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JUBILEE SERMON, 



CONTAINING 



A HISTORY OF THE ORIGIN 



FIRST BAPTIST CHURCH IN THE CITY OF NEW-YORK, 



ITS PROGRESS DURING THE FIRST FIFTY YEARS SINCE ITS 
CONSTITUTION. 

Delivered in the Meeting-house of said Church, Jan. 1, 1813. 




Thou shalt remember nil the way which the Lord thy God led thee, 

Deut. 8 : 2. 

The Lord is good : a strong hold in the day of trouble ; and he kuow8(b 
them that trust in him. Nahwu I : 7. 



— 1867 



NEW-YOR% of W«*V^ 



RE-PUBLISHED BY A FRIEND 

John Gray, Printer. 
1846. 



*4<p 









JUBILEE SERMON 



Then Samuel took a stone and set it between Mizpeh and Shen, and called 
the name of it Eben-ezer, saying, Hitherto hath the Lord helped us.— 

1 Samuel vii. 12. 

What is here recorded is accounted for in the 
history with which it is connected. From this his- 
tory it appears that the Israelites had then been long 
under the dominion of the Philistines ; who had not 
only greatly annoyed them by advantages taken in 
war, but also interrupted and suspended their pub- 
lic worship, by carrying away the ark of the Lord.(a) 
The ark, indeed, they did not long detain ;(b) for, 
having set it in the temple of Dagon, probably, as 
a trophy of his supposed victory over the God of the 
Hebrews, Dagon was broken to pieces before it; 
and wherever they placed it, a plague of emerods 
was upon the persons, and another of mice upon the 
fields of the inhabitants. (c) The Philistines, affright- 

(a) Chap. 5:1. (b) Only seven months, chap. 6:1. 
(c) Chap, 5 : 3, 4, 9, and chap. 6 : 5. 



ed at these judgments, assembled their lords, their 
priests, and their diviners, at whose united advice the 
ark was sent back and accompanied with valuable 
presents, (d) It was set down in the field of Joshua, 
the Beth-shemite.(e) Here again the indignation of 
God against the profanation of this sacred article, 
was awfully displayed: "fifty thousand threescore 
and ten" of the Beth-shemites, for curiously looking 
into it, were smitten with some fearful disease, and 
many, if not all of them, with death.(/) Alarmed 
at this, the Beth-shemites sent messengers to the 
inhabitants of Kirjath-jearim, saying, " The Philis- 
tines have brought again the ark of the Lord; come 
ye down and fetch it up to you."(o-) The men of 
Kirjath-jearim (as related verse 1 of this chap.) 
brought it up, and apparently, without any appre- 
hensions, set it in the house of Abinadab. Here it 
abode a long time,* during which, under the labors 

(d) Golden images of the enaerods and mice. Chap. 
5 : 3 and chap. 6 : 2, 3, 4, 5, 15. 

(e) Chap. 6 : 18. (/) Chap. 6 : 19. (g) Chap. 6 : 21. 

* Even until the times of David, — yea until he had reign- 
ed seven years over Judah, and was made king over all 
Israel: 1 Chron. 13 : 6, 7; a lapse of time including the 
government both of Samuel and Saul, and could not have 
been less than between forty and fifty years. Consequently 
the twenty years mentioned, 1 Sam. 7 : 2, must design not 
all the time the ark was at Kirjath-jearim; but either the 
time it was there before much noticed by the Israelites, or 
the time it remained there after they were brought again to 
seek the Lord in the use of it. 



of Samuel, the Israelites were awakened to a sense 
of their sad condition, and caused to seek their for- 
saken God by means of it : " all the house of Israel, 
verse 2, lamented after the Lord." There may be 
much lamentation without any amendment ; there- 
fore, as an evidence of sincerity, Samuel required 
that they put away their idols ; and which, as ap- 
pears from the 3d and 4th verses of the chapter, they 
readily did. Now, being assembled for 'public hu- 
miliation and prayer, they solemnly confessed their 
sins, saying, " We have sinned against the Lord," 
ver. 6. The Lord forgave them, as is evident by 
his interpositions in their favor; nevertheless, the 
Philistines, having the disposition, not of the Lord, 
but of Satan, retained their ill-will against them ; 
yea, seem to have been the more exasperated at their 
penitence; for "when they heard that the children 
of Israel were gathered together at Mizpeh," for the 
devotional purposes already mentioned, "the lords 
of the Philistines," with their forces, " went up 
against Israel." The Israelites were in great fear ; 
and, sensible that none but God could deliver and 
protect them, they besought Samuel to intercede with 
him in their behalf: " Cease not," said they to him, 
ver. 8, " to cry unto the Lord our God for us, that 
he will save us out of the hand of the Philistines." 
" And, ver. 9, Samuel took a sucking lamb, and 
offered it for a burnt-offering wholly unto the Lord ; 
and Samuel cried unto the Lord ; and the Lord heard 
1* 



him." Did not Samuel, in these acts, typify Christy 
who took his human nature, as a lamb without spot r 
and offered it to God to make an atonement for the 
sins of his people, (h) and who not only upon the 
cross cried "Father, forgive them," but also, having 
ascended to heaven, " ever liveth to make interces- 
sion for them?" Heb. 7 : 25. Let, then, spiritual 
Israelites, amid all their enemies, and under all their 
fears and discouragements, have recourse to their 
divine intercessor; for if Samuel was heard, how 
much more Christ ? That Samuel was heard is man- 
ifest from the providence which followed : " As Sam- 
uel, ver. 10, was offering up the burnt-offering," 
accompanied, as appears from the connexion, with 
cries to God, "the Philistines drew near to battle 
against Israel ;" they drew near, but to their own 
ruin ; — they drew near, " but the Lord thundered 
with a great thunder on that day upon the Philistines, 
and discomfited them." This thunder storm was 
the accomplishment of Hannah's prophecy ; see 
chap. 2. ver. 10, and, therefore, notwithstanding it 
may have proceeded, as in common, from natural 
causes, it, nevertheless, unquestionably occurred at 
that particular time and place, and to accomplish that 
particular purpose, by the special appointment of 
God. According to Joscphus,* the thunder was at- 



{h) Heb. 9 : 14. 1 Pet. 1 : 19. 
*L, 6. c. 2. § 2. 



tended with an earthquake ; so that heaven and earth 
were combined to effect the ruin of Israel's enemies ; 
for the terrible lightning which accompanied the thun- 
der, while it struck many dead, so blinded the others 
that they could not see their way ; and the earth, at 
the same time, opening in divers places, numbers fell 
into the yawning cavities and perished. It is added, 
"they were smitten before Israel;" not by Israel, 
observe, but before Israel ; for they were discomfited 
by the lightning and the earthquake ; and which was 
before Israel, both as to place and time ; as to place, 
being before their eyes, and as to time, being before 
they went out against them. " The men of Israel," 
however, encouraged by this signal interposition of 
God, " went out of Mizpeh, ver. 11, and pursued 
the Philistines (those of them who survived the 
lightning and the earthquake) and smote them, until 
they came unto Beth-car," which is a city of the 
Danites, and probably twenty or thirty miles distant 
from Mizpeh.* 

Now, to perpetuate the memory of this remark- 
able display of divine power and goodness in favor 
of Israel, Samuel, according to the custom of Old 
Testament times, (i) erected the monument mention- 

* This victory was another and a very considerable ad- 
vance of that deliverance from the power of the Philistines 
which God had promised to Israel, and which he began to 
effect by the instrumentality of Sampson, Judges 13 : 5. 

(i) Gen. 28 : 18, 31, 45, and 35 : 14. Josh. 4 : 3—9, and 
24 : 26, 27. 



8 

ed in the text. " Then Samuel took a stone, and 
set it between Mizpeh and Shen, and called the name 
of it Eben-ezer," that is, a stone of help, " saying," 
as explanatory of what he had done, " Hitherto hath 
the Lord helped us." 

With a similar view, and in conformity to the 
times of the New Testament, I have composed and 
now deliver this sermon ; the object of which is to 
preserve the recollection of the great goodness of 
God to this church, as it hath appeared in the prov- 
idences which have attended the same, from its origin 
to about the middle of the last year,* — a year which, 
by way of allusion to an Old Testament Institution, 
may be termed its Jubilee Year, being the fiftieth 
since its constitution. 

The method thought to be the best calculated to 
answer the end proposed, is to review 

I. The circumstances which led to the constitution 
of this church, and 

II. The circumstances which have marked its pro- 
gress. 

I. The circumstances which led to the constitution 
of this church. 

In noticing these it must not be concealed, that 

* At which time it had been intended to preach the ser- 
mon, but the want of some necessary information prevented. 
That period having past, it was from various causes, post- 
poned irom time to time, until finally it was thought expe- 
dient to reserve the subject for this day — a day on which, 
annually, we make a collection for our poor. 



although the church whose history is under consider- 
ation, is called The First Baptist Church in the City 
of New- York, and although, compared with all other 
churches of the same denomination now in the place, 
it is in fact so, yet that a small society called a Bap- 
tist church had once existed here, but was dissolved, 
before the formation of this church. That society, 
however, consisted of professed Arminians, and was 
denominated a Baptist church merely from the char- 
acteristic ordinance of baptism. The founders of it 
were a Mr. Wickenden, of Providence ; a Mr. Whit- 
man, of Groton ; and a Mr. Ayres, probably, a native 
of this place ; all of whom were Arminian Baptist 
preachers. Mr. Wickenden first preached here 
about the year 1709, and here suffered three months' 
imprisonment ; occasioned, according to the best in- 
formation we can obtain, by his having preached with- 
out a license from an officer of the crown. Mr. Whit- 
man came hither in the year 1712, by invitation of 
Mr. Ayres, who had providentially heard him, and 
continued his visits for about two years. His place 
of preaching was Mr. Ayres' dwelling house. Under 
his ministry many became serious, and some pro- 
fessed a hope in Christ, among whom was Mr. Ayres, 
his host. Of these, seven males and five females,* 

* Viz : Nicholas Ayres, (mentioned above,) Nathaniel 
Morey, Anthony Webb, John Howes, Edward Hoyter, 
Cornelius Stephens, James Daneman, Elizabeth Morey, 
Hannah Wright, Esther Cowley, Martha Stephens, Mrs, 
Miller. 



10 

were baptized by Mr. Whitman, in 1714, and who 
are the first known to have been baptized in this city. 
Having apprehensions from the mob, they, with the 
administrator, assembled at the water in the night, 
when the five females were baptized ; but during the 
administration of the ordinance to them, these words 
of Christ, " No man doeth any thing in secret when 
he himself seeketh to be known openly,"(&) were so 
impressed upon the mind of Mr. Ayres, as to con- 
vince him that it was not his duty to be baptized in 
that secret manner : he mentioned his impression to 
the six brethren standing with him, and they all 
agreed to put off their design till morning : in the 
morning Mr. Ayres waited on the governor ; (Wil- 
liam Burnet ;) related the case to him and solicited 
protection : the governor promised that the request 
should be granted, and was as good as his word ; for, 
at the time appointed, he, accompanied by many of 
the most respectable inhabitants of the city, attended 
at the water, and the ordinance was performed in 
peace ; the governor, as he stood by, was heard to 
say, " This was the ancient manner of baptizing ; 
and is, in my opinion, much preferable to the prac- 
tice of modern times." These baptized persons 
called Mr. Ayres to preach to them ; and in Sep- 
tember, 1724, they were constituted a church, and 
he was ordained their pastor, by Elders Valentine 
Whitman, of Groton, and Daniel Whitman, of New- 

(k) John 7 : 4. 



11 

P ort. ' Under his ministry, the audience so increas- 
ed, that a private house could not hold them : where- 
fore they purchased a lot on Golden Hill, (not far 
from that on which this house stands) and thereon 
built a place for worship,* in the year 1728. To the 
twelve persons already mentioned, there were six 
added under the ministry of Mr. Ayres.f Mr. Ayres 
remained their pastor seven years ; when, Oct. 31, 
1731, he resigned the care of them, and removed to 
Newport, R. I., where he died. After him a Mr. 
John Stephens preached to them and baptized six 
persons.! But Mr. Stephens quitting them to go to 
S. Carolina, and their meeting house being claimed 
and sold as private property, by one of the trustees, 
the Arminian Church, consisting then of twenty-four 
members, dissolved ; having existed about eight years. 
The present church in this place, originated in the 
manner following : About the year 1745, Mr. Jere- 
miah Dodge, a member of the Baptist church at Fish- 
Kill, settled in this city, and opened a prayer meet- 
ing in his own house : at this meeting some of those 
who had been members of the former church, attend- 

* According to the maps of that day fronting in Cliff-street. 

f Viz : William Ball, Ahasuerus Windal, (of Albany,) 
Abigail and Dinah North, (of Newtown,) Martha Walton, 
(of Staten Island,) and Richard Stilwell, junr. 

t Viz : Robert North, Mary Murphy, Hannah French, 
Mary Stilwell, and two others whose names we cannot now 
ascertain. 



12 

ed, and occasionally officiated ; but as they were 
Arminians, and Mr. Dodge a strict adherent to the 
doctrines of grace, they enjoyed but little satisfaction 
together. Some time in the same year, 1745, El- 
der Benjamin Miller, of the Scotch Plains, visited 
the city (probably at the invitation of Mr. Dodge) 
and baptized Mr. Joseph Meeks.* Thenceforward 
the prayer meeting was held at the house of Mr. 
Meeks and that of Mr. Dodge alternately ; and these 
two brethren and Mr. Robert North (formerly of the 
Arminian church) united in giving an invitation to 
Mr. John Pine (a licentiate in the church at Fishkill) 
to come and preach to them. His labors were ren- 
dered useful ; partly in reconciling some of the for- 
mer church to the doctrines of grace, and partly, in 
the conversion of others. t His place of preaching 
appears to have been, chiefly, the dwelling house of 
Mr. Meeks. In 1750 Mr. Pine died : after which 
they were visited by Elder James Carman (of Cran- 
berry) who baptized at different times, until their 
number was increased to thirteen ; when they were 
advised to join themselves to the church at the Scotch 
Plains, so as to be considered a branch of that church, 

* Mr. Meeks became one of the constituents of this 
church, and remained an esteemed and useful member un- 
til his death: he died Oct. 6, 1782; aged 73 years. 

f Among whom were John Carman and Nehemiah Oak- 
ly ; who were baptized by Elder Halstead, pastor of the 
church at Fishkill. 



13 

and to have their pastor (Elder Benjamin Miller) to 
preach and administer the Lord's supper to them 
once a quarter. This was effected in 1753. Mr. 
Miller had visited them but a few times, when the 
congregation became too large to be accommodated 
in any private house, that was at their service, and 
therefore they hired, as the best and most commo- 
dious place their circumstances enabled them to pro- 
cure, a rigging loft in Cart and Horse-street,* which 
they fitted up for public worship. Here they statedly 
assembled for three or four years ; when, this place 
being otherwise disposed of by the owner, they (such 
of them as could be accommodated) returned to the 
dwelling house of Mr. Joseph Meeks ; where they 
continued to hold their meetings for about one year.f 
Then they purchased a part of the ground on which 
the house we now occupy stands, and erected upon 



* So called from a very noted and conspicuous sign of a 
cart and horse hanging in it : it is now called William-street. 

f Thus far this history, particularly in what relates to the 
Arminian church, is taken from a manuscript left by Elder 
Morgan Edwards, deceased, once pastor of the First Baptist 
Church in Philadelphia. Henceforward the facts related 
are collected, principally, from the records of the church, 
letters to Associations and Association minutes : in some in- 
stances from tradition : in the latter part many things are 
said from personal knowledge ; and when, in any part of 
the history, ether publications have been relied on, they are 
referred to. 

2 



14 

it a small meeting house, which was opened on the 
14th of March, 1760.* 

Having then a place for public worship, and their 
number being increased to twenty-seven, they soli- 
cited and obtained from the church at the Scotch 
Plains, a letter of dismission, bearing date the 12th 
of June, 1762 ; and on the 19th of the same month 
they were constituted a church, by the assistance of 
Elders Benjamin Miller and John Gano.t 

The doctrines in the belief and profession of which 
this church was constituted, and which she still main- 
tains and professes, are contained in the Baptist Con- 
fession of Faith, printed in London, in the year J.688. 

* The land now belonging to this church, on Golden Hill, 
consists of five lots purchased at three several times, viz : 
in 1759, 1772, and 1773*; containing about 125 feet by 100. 
The lots, as purchased, were conveyed to certain individu- 
als to hold in trust. In 1784 the church was incorporated, 
and in 1785 the said lots were conveyed to the corporation. 

f Names of the constituents: John Carman, Jeremiah 
Dodge, Andrew Thompson, Samuel Edmunds, John De- 
gray, Elias Bailey, Joseph Meeks, "William Colegrove, 
Samuel Dodge, Catharine Degray, Mary Stilwell, Hannah 
Hoyter, Hannah French, Mary Morphy, Margaret Dodge, 
Sarah Meeks, Sarah Thompson, Jane Caswell, Mary Ed- 
munds, Susanna Myers, Susanna Caligan, Ruth Prince, 
Mary Smith, Elizabeth Van Dyke, Margaret Simmons, 
Rachel Wilson, Catharine Lennon : of whom Samuel Ed- 
munds is the only one now living ; he resides at Hudson, 
and is a member of the church at Pleasant Valley, under 
the pastoral care of Elder Levi Hall. 



15 

However, as some may read this discourse, who 
have not seen that Confession of Faith, it is thought 
expedient to give the following summary of the views 
of this church, on such subjects as are chiefly dis- 
puted.* 

The Holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testa- 
ments, we receive as given by inspiration of God, (a) 
and as our only rule of faith and practice. (b) Ac- 
cording to these holy oracles, We believe, that there 
is one God ;(c) that there is not another ;(d) and yet 
that this one God subsisteth in three equal persons, 
the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, (e) and 
that HE is perfectly comprehended by none but Inm- 
self :(/) That HE alone, created the heavens and 
the earth with all the creatures they contain ;(g) 
that man was made upright, and so able to keep the 
law under which he was placed ;(h) but, being left 
to the freedom of his own will, he transgressed that 
law, and thereby fell into a state of depravity and 



* In preaching the sermon, this summary of doctrine was 
omitted. 

(a) 2 Tim. 3 : 15—17. 2 Pet. 1 : 21. 

(Z>) John 5: 39. Acts 17: 11. lPet.4:ll. 2 Pet. 1 : 19,20. 

(c) Deut. 6:4. 1 Tim. 2 : 5. 

(d) Exod. 20 : 3—5. 1 Cor. 8 : 6. 

(e) Isai. 48 : 16. 1 John 5 : 7. Matt. 28 : 19. 
(/) Job 11 : 7. Isai. 40 : 28. 

(g) Gen. 1 : 1 and 2 : 1. Acts 17 : 24—26. 
(h) Gen. 1 : 17. Ecc. 7 : 29. 



16 

condemnation :(i) That the first man (Adam) was 
constituted a public head and representative of all 
his posterity ;(Jc) and consequently that when he fell 
they all fell with him into the same condition ;(l) 
That mankind, in their fallen state, are totally and 
universally depraved ;(m) and, as such, have neither 
ability nor inclination to return to God :(n) That 
man, although he hath sinned away his power to 
keep the law of God, is, notwithstanding, under ob- 
ligation to keep it ;(o) and that upon pain of endur- 
ing its curse :(p) That God, in justifying and par- 
doning any of the fallen race of mankind, has no 
respect to any good works to be done by them, either 
before or after regeneration ;(q) but alone to the mer- 
its of the life and death of Christ, which he (God the 
Father) imputes to them, as the only meritorious 
cause of their justification and pardon :(r) That good 
works, though they have no influence in our justifi- 
cation and pardon, are, nevertheless, to be enjoin- 
ed^) and observed as useful, both before and after 



(z) Gen. 3 : 6. Ps. 14 : 3. John 3 : 18. 
(Jc) Rom. 5 : 17. {I) Rom. 5 : 12, 18, 19. 
(to) Ps. 53 : 3. Rom. 3 : 10, 19. 

(n) Jer. 13 : 23. John 6 : 44. Job 21 : 14. John 5 : 40. 
(o) Deut. 5 : 7. Luke 10 : 25—27. (j>) Gal. 3 : 10. 
(q) Ezek. 36 : 31, 32. Luke 17 : 10. 
(r) Isai. 43 : 25. Jer. 23 : 6, Rom. 3 : 21—28, and 4 : 
3— 6, 25, and 5: 19, 21. Acts 13 : 39. 

(s) Ezek. 2 : 3— 5. Isai. 1 : 16, 17. 2 Cor. 5: 11. 



17 

conversion ;(t) before conversion they are useful as 
to ourselves and families, so to civil society in com- 
mon ;(m) and after conversion they are useful, not 
only for the same reasons, but also as they are essen- 
tial to manifest both to ourselves and others, that our 
faith is genuine, (w) and especially to show forth the 
praises of him who hath called us out of darkness 
into his marvellous light :(x) That the gospel, which 
reveals the divine purpose and method to save sin- 
ners,(?/) through the incarnation, obedience and sac- 
rifice of Christ, (z) the second person in the eternal 
Godhead, is to be published to mankind in com- 
mon ;(a) but that regeneration, faith in Christ, and 
repentance for sin, which are essential to the enjoy- 
ment of God, (6) and the performance of his accepta- 
ble^) service ; as also perseverance in grace to glory, 
which is certain of all the regenerate, (d) are given 

(t) 1 Tim. 4 : 8, and 5 : 31 . Prov. 23 : 20—20. 

(u) Prov. 27 : 2, and 28 : 4. Ecc. 9 : 17, 18. 

(ic) Matt. 7:16. 2 Cor. 5 : 17. 1 John 3 : 8, 10, 14. 
James 2 : 10. 

{x) Matt. 5 : 13— 16. 1 Cor. 6 : 20. Eph.2:10. Titus 
2 : 14, and 3:8. 1 Pet. 1 : 2, 9. 

{y) 2 Tim. 1 : 10. 

(z) Gen. 3 : 15. Isai. 7 : 14. Matt. 1 : 21, and 5 : 17. 
1 Pet. 3 : 18. 

(a) Malt. 28: 19. Mark 16 : 15. Luke 24: 47. 

{b) John 3: 3. 1 Pet. 1 : 8. Luke 13 : 3. 

(c) Rom. 8:8. Heb. 11:6. 

(d) Rom. 8 : 17, 30. John 10 : 28, 29. 

2* 



18 

only through the irresistible (e) operations of the Holy 
Ghost, the third person in the adorable Trinity, and 
that they are given by God the Father, according to 
his personal and eternal election of his people in 
Christ :(/) That baptism and the Lord's supper are 
ordinances peculiar to the gospel dispensation,^) 
and are to be observed till the second coming of 
Christ :(h) — That those only who give scriptural evi- 
dence of faith in Christ, are to be baptized,(t) receiv- 
ed into the visible church, (A:) and admitted to the 
Lord's table :(Z) — That nothing is a scriptural admin- 
istration of the gospel ordinance of baptism but the 
total immersion(m) of the subject in water, in the 
name of the Holy Trinity, and by a man duly au- 



(e) John 3:8. 2 Cor. 4 : 6. Acts 11 : 18. Eph. 2 : 8. 
Acts 5 : 31. 

(/) Ps. 110 : 3. John 6 : 37, 39. Rom. 8 : 29. Acts 
13 : 48. Eph. 1 : 3—14. 1 Thess. 5:9. 2 Tim. 1 : 9. 
Titus 3 : 5. 

(g) Luke 16 : 16. Matt. 3 : 1—17, and 28 : 19, and 26 : 
26—28. 

(h) Matt, 28 i 20. 1 Cor. 11 : 26. 

(i) Matt. 28 : 19. Mark 16 : 16. Acts 8 : 12, 37. 

(k) 2 Cor. 6 : 14—18. 

{I) Acts 2 : 41, 42. 1 Cor. 11 : 28, 29. 

(m) This only answers to the primary meaning of the 
word baptize, the word by which, in our language, the act 
in question is signified ; and to a burial, the figure by which 
this act is set forth : Rom. 6 : 4. See the example of Christ, 
Mark 1 : 9, and the baptism of the eunuch, Acts 38 : 39. 






19 

thorized to administer ordinances :(n) — That the only 
officers belonging to a gospel church are bishops and 
deacons ;(o) and that every gospel church, regularly 
constituted, has the power of self government, being- 
bound only by the word of God :(p) — And, finally, 
that there will be a resurrection both of the just and 
unjust, (q) a general judgment,(r) and an eternal sep- 
aration between the righteous and the wicked ; the 
latter being banished to everlasting misery and the 
former being received into everlasting happiness. (s) 

Having noticed the circumstances which led to the 
constitution of this church, and given a summary of 
its articles of faith, I proceed to notice 

(n) Matt. 28 : 19. 

(o) Philip. 1:1. Bishops, or overseers, are pastors and 
elders, Acts 20 : 17, 28. 

(p) If the power of ecclesiastical government be not in 
the church, where is it ? Certainly not in the world, John 
18 : 36 ; nor in pastors, 1 Pet. 5:3; nor in associations ; 
for much soever as may be said in favor of their expediency, 
no such bodies are recognised in scripture. The churches, 
indeed, for the solution of a difficulty, sent up to Jerusalem, 
to the apostles, Acts 15 : 1, 2; and churches now may, in. 
effect, do the same ; the authority of the apostles, in their 
written decisions, being still in full force : see Matt. 28 : 20 
compared with Matt. 19 : 28, and Luke 22 : 30. More 
over an apostle exhorts churches to govern: see Rom. 14: 
l,and 1 Cor. 5 : 12, 13. 

(q) John 5 : 28, 29. Acts 26 : 8. 1 Cor. 15 : 22, 23. 

(r) Acts 17 : 31. 2 Cor. 5 : 10. 

(s) Luke 16 : 26. Matt. 25 : 32—46 



20 

II. The circumstances which have marked its pro- 
gress. These have been numerous and various, 
prosperous and adverse. 

After the solemnities of the constitution, on the 
same day, two deacons* were elected, and a clerkf 
to minute and record the proceedings of the church. 



* John Carman, deceased, and Samuel Edmunds, dis- 
missed. 

Those elected deacons of this church at several times 
since : elected at dates not ascertained ; Samuel Dodge, 
deceased, Andrew Thompson, deceased, and William 
Lawson, resigned ; still a worthy member of the church. 
Elected at the dates following : Feb. 27, 1787, Thomas 
Sloo and Thomas Longly, — both dismissed ; they removed 
to Kentucky. April 29, 1788, Jonathan Conrey, declined 
accepting the office, — deceased ; and Abraham Cannon, 
deceased. May the 6th, 1788, William Thompson, dis- 
missed, and William Norris, excluded. Nov. 2, 1790, John 
Bedient. Jan. 17, 1801, Eliakim Ford, dismissed to the 
church at Stamford. Sept. 12, 1806, James Duffie, Sam- 
uel F. Randolph, William Willess, and Thomas Hanes ; 
(the last named resigned, and has since been excluded.) Oct. 
4, 1808, Peter Conrey and John Tiebout; Leonard Bleeck- 
er, and William Mcintosh ; (resigned.) Feb. 6, 1808, Rose- 
well Graves, and Nicholas B. Lyon. 

Present deacons : John Bedient, James Duffie, Samuel 
F. Randolph, William Willess, Peter Conrey, John Tie- 
bout, Rosewell Graves, and Nicholas B. Lyon. 

f Samuel Dodge. He remained clerk, notwithstanding 
his after election as a deacon, till May 28, 1804, when he 
resigned, on account of being about to remove to Poughkeep- 
sie, where he died Oct 4, 1807, aged seventy-seven years, 



21 

On the same day, likewise, Elder John Gano, (be- 
fore mentioned as one of the officiating ministers at 
the constitution,) having presented a letter certifying 
his regular dismission from a Baptist church at the 
Yadkin, N. Carolina, and being thereupon received 
as a member, was, unanimously, called to take upon 
him the pastoral charge of this church. The gift of 
a pastor, especially of such a pastor, at the very time 
of the constitution, was a favor which laid the church 
under more than common obligations, to the great 
" Shepherd and Bishop of souls." As a man, Mr. 
Gano was then in the prime of life, and as a preacher, 
his " praise was in all the churches."* His labors 

five months, and twenty-five days. He was an unblemish- 
ed member of the church from the constitution till his death ; 
and both a deacon and the clerk of the church for upwards 
of forty years. When he resigned as clerk, deacon John 
Bedient was chosen in his stead, who remained in the office 
till July 4, 1809, when he resigned, and deacon Rosewell 
Graves was chosen, who is now clerk of this church. 

* Mr. Gano — of French descent — was born at Hopewell, 
New- Jersey, July 22d, 1727. He was called to the minis- 
try in Hopewell church, and there ordained May 29th, 
1754 : his ordination sermon, preached by Mr. Isaac Eaton, 
A. M., was printed. From Hopewell he removed toMor- 
ristown, where he tarried about two years. From thence 
he removed to the Yadkin, N. Carolina, where he was in- 
strumental in raising a pretty large church, which was bro- 
ken up in the war of 1756, and he and his family were 
obliged to fly for their lives from the ravages of the Indians. 
—MS. left by Elder Morgan Edwards. 



22 

soon attracted public notice, and occasioned such an 
increase of hearers, as rendered it necessary for the 
church to enlarge their meeting house ; and which 
they did in 1763. The exact dimensions of the 
house when first built, I have not learned ; but as 
enlarged it measured 52 feet by 42 ; and which was 
generally well filled, and often too small. Nor were 
the people hearers of the word only ; for it was the 
pleasure of God so to attend his own truth, as deliver- 
ed by his servant, that many were turned to the Lord, 
and added to the church. 

On the 11th of Oct. 1763, this church, consisting 
then of forty-one members, and being in a peaceable 
and flourishing condition, was received into the Phi- 
ladelphia Association.* It would afford me great 



* Of which she remained a member till Oct. 1790 ; when 
she look a dismission from that venerable body, with a view 
of uniting with other churches in an association in this city. 
This church, accordingly, sent a circular letter to neighbor- 
ing churches, soliciting them to meet in New-York, by 
representation, on Tuesday the 12th of April following, to 
deliberate on forming an association. The ministers and 
other messengers of seven churches, viz : the church at the 
Scotch Plains, the church at Oyster Bay, L. I., the church 
at Morristown, N. J., the church at Connoe- Brook, (now 
Northfield) the church on Staten Island, and the first and 
second churches in New- York ; the latter of which is now 
called Bethel, met on the day appointed ; when a plan for 
an association, previously drawn up, was laid before them ; 
which they adopted, and ordered to be printed with the 



23 

pleasure could I proceed in the history of this branch 
of Zion, especially at so early a period of its exist- 
ence, without having to relate some disagreeable, as 
well as agreeable occurrences ; but I cannot ; nor 
should it be expected : for Satan, as he is a stranger 
to peace himself, so, as far as permitted, he is ever 
exerting his influence to banish that blessing from the 
bosoms and societies of God's people. Alas ! that 
he should so often succeed ! especially that he should 
succeed by means of professors themselves ! and 
even by men professing to be ministers of the gospel 
of peace ! ! By means of such men, however, he 
succeeded to the great disturbance of this church ; 
as appears by certain circumstances recorded by El- 
der Gano. "During my residence in this place," 
saith he, (speaking of New-York,) " the church were 
in love and harmony, except a few difficulties that 
took place, by the arrival of two or three preachers 



minutes of their proceedings, and circulated for the consid- 
eration of other churches. They adjourned to Oct. 19th, 
1791, when the said seven churches again met by their del- 
egates, and formally united under the name of the New- 
York Baptist Association. The first meeting of this 
association was held Oct. 31st. 1792, when five other 
churches, viz : Piscataiuay, Lyon's Farms, Mount Bethel, 
Potohog, and Sag Harbor were added. [The first church 
iii New- York then consisted of two hundred members.] The 
association then adjourned to meet on the last Wednesday 
but one in May, 1793, which has been the time of its an- 
nual meeting ever since. 



24 

from England."* These men, as appears from his 
account of them, each in turn, aimed to divide this 
church ; and although they failed of accomplishing 
their object, they nevertheless, occasioned much 
trouble in the attempt. 

Soon after, the church was considerably agitated 
by a difference of opinion about the management of 
psalmody. It had been the usage of the church to 
have the lines parcelled out ; but a large majority 
becoming in favor of singing from books, as we now 
do, a resolution was past to adopt this mode ; where- 
upon the minority, consisting of fourteen, t took dis- 
missions, and having obtained the approbation of the 
church they had left, on June 5th, 1790, they were 
constituted under the name of the Second Baptist 
Church in New-York, by Elders Miller and Gano. J 

* The men of whom Mr. Gano speaks, were John Mur- 
ray, Dawson, and John Allen. Life of Gano, writ- 
ten by himself. Page 88. 

f Viz: Jeremiah Dodge, and Margaret, his wife ; Fran- 
cis Van Dyke, and Elizabeth, his wife ; Joseph Fox; Ad- 
am Todd ; Nicholas Andreses; Nathaniel Tylee, and Han- 
nah, his wife ; Phebe Moss ; Elizabeth White ; Hannah 
Burdge ; Ann Millen ; Ann Angevine. 

X The first pastor of this church was Elder John Dodge, 
a native of Long Island. He was born Feb. 22d, 1738, and 
was bred to physic. He became a Baptist in Baltimore, 
under the ministry of Elder John Davis. From thence he 
^ame to New- York, aDd joined the second church, where he 
was licensed to preach Jan. 14, 1771. As there is now no 
Baptist church in New-York distinguished as the second, 



25 

Notwithstanding these and some other unpleasant 
circumstances, this church continued to be comfort- 
ed and increased under the administration of the 
word, until the revolutionary war ; during which El- 
der Gano was a chaplain in the army, the church in 
a dispersed condition, and its records suspended. 
The last time Mr. Gano administered baptism before 
he went into the army, was on April 28, 1776, # and 
the first time after his return, was on Sept. 4th, 
1784.t 

Were I disposed to attempt a description of this 
city and its inhabitants, at the time the army was 
disbanded, I would invite your attention to the sub- 
ject in these words of the Psalmist : " Come, behold 
the works of the Lord, what desolations he hath 
made in the earth ;" but 1 forbear ; and confine my- 
self to the church. Of this Mr. Gano expresses him- 
self thus : " We collected of our church about thir- 
ty-seven members out of upwards of two hundred ; 
some being dead, and others scattered into almost 
every part of the Union. "J 

The meeting house also of this church, in com- 



the reader will naturally inquire, what has become of it ? 
For an answer he is referred to the note on pages 32, 33. 

* The subject was Hannah Stilwell. 

f The subjects were John Bedient, now a deacon of the 
church, and Samuel Jones. 

X Life of Gano, written by himself: p. 116, 117. 



26 

mon with other houses of worship in the city, had 
sustained great injury.* The church, however, soon 
had it repaired ; at least so as to be occupied ; when 
Mr. Gano, who is said to have been remarkable for 
selecting subjects suited to special occasions, preach- 
ed a very appropriate sermon from these words: 
" Who is left among you that saw this house in her 
first glory ? and how do you see it now ? is it not in 
your eyes in comparison of it as nothing?" Hag, 
2: 3. 

The church, thus happily restored to her public 
privileges, was, in a short time, raised to a more 
flourishing condition than she had ever enjoyed be- 
fore : most of the members who had been scattered 
abroad, were, in the course of Providence, brought 
back to the city and to the church ; and the circum- 
stance of so long a separation, and a review of the 
toils, the dangers and the privations sustained during 
the war, made the blessings of peace and of christian 
society, peculiarly valuable and pleasant ; every heart 
glowed with gratitude, — every countenance express- 
ed satisfaction and pleasure, — and every meeting was 
a solemn, thankful, and joyful assembly. The congre- 
gation also was greatly increased ; and, to crown all, 
the word preached was accompanied with " the pow- 
er of the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven ;" so 
that frequent and pretty numerous additions were 

* Having been used as a horse stable. 



27 

made to the church of such whose after conduct gav# 
reason to believe that they " knew the grace of God 
in truth."* 

Now, however, in the midst of prosperity, an event 
occurred, which greatly afflicted this church and so- 
ciety ; viz : the removal of their beloved pastor. At 
a meeting of business, on the evening of Sept. 30, 
1787, Elder Gano informed the church that he had 
had it in contemplation for some months past to re- 
move to Kentucky, and that he had finally conclu- 
ded upon leaving them the ensuing spring. The 
church, exceedingly unwilling to be deprived of his 
faithful services, strove hard to retain him ; but with- 
out success. On the evening of April 22d, 1788, he 
and eight others, who were going with him, took dis- 
missions from the church. The last time Elder Ga- 
no administered baptism, as the pastor of this church, 
was on Saturday, April 5th, 1788. On the after- 
noon of Lord's day, the 4th of May following, he ad- 
ministered the Lord's supper, and in the evening of 
the same day, took his final leave of the church and 
congregation, by preaching an affectionate and very 



* The letter from this church to the Association at Phil- 
adelphia, in 1785, states, that during the preceding year, 
fifty -two persons had been received ; one by letter from 
Hopewell, 0De baptized in Connecticut, and fifty baptized 
in this city. The letters to the same body in 1786 and '87, 
state, the former an addition of forty-one, and the latter an 
addition of twenty-nine baptized. 



28 

affecting sermon from these words : — Fare ye well ! 
Acts 15 : 29. On the next day he took his depar- 
ture with his family from the city, bound for Ken- 
tucky ; and landed safely at Limestone, on the 17th 
of June following.* 

The church was then dependent on supplies ; such 
as a committee appointed for that purpose, could pro- 
cure. One of the supplies procured, was Mr. (af- 
terward Dr.) Benjamin Foster,f who was then pas- 



* Mr. Ganowas the pastor of this church about twenty- 
six years. During his ministry the church had 297 bap- 
tized, and 23 received by letter. 

f Mr. Foster was born at Danvers, Essex county, Mass. 
June 12th, 1750; and agreeably to the custom of that state, 
received the rudiments of learning at the town school. He 
professed to have had serious impressions about eternal 
things very early in life, but not to have been brought into 
the liberty of God's children until about twenty years of age. 
At the age of eighteen he entered Yale College, in the state 
of Connecticut, then under the direction of the learned and 
pious Dr. Dagget. His parents were respectable members 
of the congregational church, and he had been brought up 
with strong and conscientious prejudices in favor of the sen- 
timents of that denomination. From these prejudices he 
was delivered in the following manner. While he was at 
college several polemic tracts on the subjects and mode of 
baptism made their appearance. The matter of them oc- 
casioned so much agitation and private debates among the 
students, that at length the question on the proper subjects 
and mode of that ordinance was fixed on as a subject of pub- 
lic discussion. Mr. Foster was appointed to defend infant 



29 

tor of a Baptist church at Newport, R. I. With 
him the church and society, generally, were pleased ; 
and it appeared likely that, under his ministry, they 



sprinkling. To prepare himself for the dispute he used the 
utmost exertion. He endeavored to view the question in 
every light in which he could possibly place it ; he careful- 
ly searched the Holy Scriptures, and examined the history 
of the church from the apostles' times. The result, howev- 
er, was very different from what had been expected ; for 
when the day appointed for discussion arrived, he was so 
far lrom being prepared to defend infant sprinkling, that, to 
the great astonishment of the officers of the college, he 
avowed himself a decided convert to the doctrine that only 
those v. ho profess faith in Christ are the subjects, and that 
immersion only is the mode of christian baptism ; and of 
which he continued, ever after, a steady, zealous and pow- 
erful advocate. He graduated about the year 1772. Soon 
after, he was baptized and received a member of the first 
Baptist church in Boston, then under the pastoral care of 
Dr. Samuel Stillman, under whom also he studied divinity. 
He was ordained to the pastoral charge of the Baptist 
church at Leicester, Massachusetts, where he continued 
several years, and then removed to Newport, R. I., whence 
he was called by this church. In the year 1792, the de- 
gree of D. D. was conferred on him by the college of Rhode 
Island, in consequence of a learned publication of his, enti- 
tled, "A Dissertation on the seventy weeks of Daniel, 1 ' 
&e. Dr. Foster was considered as, in general, a learned 
man. but as excelling, chiefly, in the oriental languages. 

The foHo wing inscription upon a handsome marble is 
placed over his grave, in the burying ground of this church. 
M As a scholar and divine he excelled ; as a preacher he 
3* 



30 

would be happily united. Under this impression, on 
the evening of the 26th of July, 1788, the church, 
being assembled to deliberate on the subject, appoint- 
ed a committee* to have a special conference with 
him on the doctrines of the gospel, and the circum- 
stances of his relation to the church at Newport ; and, 
if no obstacle appeared, to present him a call, in the 
name of the church, to become their pastor. Mr. 
Foster being then in the city, the committee saw 
him the next day ; and, being satisfied, by a conver- 
sation with him, that nothing existed to render the 
measure improper, they presented to him the call of 
the church. He told them that the main question he 
could not immediately answer; but that he would 
answer it in writing, as soon as he could feel decided 
in his own mind. On the 15th of September follow- 
ing, the committee received a letter from him, in- 
forming them that he had accepted the call of the 



was eminent; as a christian he shone conspicuously. In 
bis piety he was fervent. The church was comforted by 
his life, and now laments his death." 

This biographical sketch of Dr. Foster is, as to substance, 
extracted from Hardie's Biographical Dictionary, publish- 
ed New- York, 1801. 

* Of thirteen, viz : Samuel Dodge, Benjamin Mon- 
tenye, Ezekiel Robbins, William Norris, William Thomp- 
son, John Bedient, Jonathan Conrey, John Duffie, Abra- 
ham Cannon, Zebulon Barton, William Durell, Hugh 
Montgomery, Thomas Garniss. 



31 

church ; and on the 26th of the same month, he ar- 
rived with his family in the city.* 

Dr. Foster's ministry here, though not long, and 
though generally acceptable, was, nevertheless at- 
tended with some considerable trials, both to himself 
and the church. He had preached here but a few 
months, when certain members of the church pro- 
fessed to discover in his sermons, some traits of 
what was then called New Divinity. What the sen- 
timents objected to in the Dr.'s sermons were, and 
whether orthodox or heterodox, I shall not attempt to 
decide ; having never heard him preach, nor read 
any thing written by him on doctrinal subjects. The 
difficulty, however, continued and increased until it 
became, necessarily, a subject of consideration and 
discipline in the church ; and, after much forbear- 
ance and labor, on the evening of January 27, 1789, 
thirteen persons were excluded.t 

* On the day of their arrival here, Mr. Foster and hia 
wife were both inoculated with the small pox, which delay- 
ed his entering on the duties of his office until the 2d of De- 
cember following, when he and his wife, upon satisfactory 
letters of dismission, were received as members of this 
church, and he took upon him the pastoral charge of the 
same. 

f It is with extreme reluctance that any notice is taken 
of this antiquated affair ; but as the nature of the discourse 
rendered such notice inevitable, it is thought a duty to all 
concerned to make the following observations. The said 
thirteen persons were not considered as censurable for op- 



32 

Others remained restless, and occasioned much 
disturbance in the church, until, after many meet- 
ings and endeavors, without success, to effect a re- 
conciliation, on the 21st of January, 1790, it was re- 
solved that all dissatisfied under the ministry of Dr. 
Foster should have liberty (notwithstanding the im- 
proper temper which many of them had manifested 
during the discussion) to take letters of dismission, 
either to join the other Baptist church in the city, or 
to become a new church, as they might prefer; 
whereupon twenty persons took dismissions.* 



posing what they thought to be error, nor, having failed uf 
effecting a change, for seeking to be separated, in some 
proper manner from the church ; but for the temper discov- 
ered and the means employed ; also for not taking meas- 
ures to be reconciled to their brethreu, after being put away. 
To this latter fault it is supposed they were tempted, by a 
readiness discovered in the second church to receive them ; 
for that church, instead of saying, " go be reconciled to your 
brethren," received them as in good standing. This occa- 
sioned a difficulty between the two churches; which, how- 
ever, was settled in May, 1790. The mischief arising from 
churches receiving persons excluded from other churches of 
the same denomination, is incalculable. Extraordinary 
cases, nevertheless, may occur, in which it may be expedi- 
ent for churches to receive such persons; particularly, when 
the church which had excluded a person shall have dissolv- 
ed ; in which case the person, however penitent, can have 
no opportunity of being reconciled and restored to the 
church that had excluded him. 

* Of these two returned, and eighteen joined the second 



33 

This difficulty being terminated, the church ap- 
pears to have enjoyed much harmony, and to have 
had no special cause of tribulation, throughout the 
remaining part of Dr. Foster's life ; which ended on 
Lord's day morning, August 26th, 1798. He died 
of the yellow fever, in the forty-eighth year of his 
age ; having been about twenty-two years an ordain- 
ed minister, and nine years and about nine months 
the pastor of this church.* 



church. Soon after receiving these, and the thirteen men- 
tioned before, [p. 31,] that church fell into a state of con- 
tention, and sometime in the year 1790 divided ; each 
branch claiming the distinction of the Second Baptist Church 
in New- York. After contending this claim for a consider- 
able time, they were both prevailed on to relinquish it ; the 
branch that remained assuming the distinction of the Bethel 
Baptist Church, represented on the minutes of the New- 
York Baptist Association, as constituted in the year 1770, 
and which is now under the pastoral care of Elder Daniel 
Hall ; and the other, represented on the minutes of the 
same association as constituted in the year 1791, assumed 
the distinction of the Baptist Church in Fayeltc-street, which 
is now under the pastoral care of Elder John Williams. See 
page 24. 

* Dr. Foster, notwithstanding the difference of opinion 
which existed respecting his sentiments, and the difficulties 
hence arising, was highly respected by his literary and re- 
ligious acquaintance, both as a scholar and a preacher ; and 
although no remarkable revival took place under his minis- 
try in this city, yet there was a gradual addition to the 
church almost every year he was pastor. He baptized in 



34 

Now, again, the church was dependent on sup- 
plies ; and on the evening of September 27, 1793, it 
was agreed that Mr. William Collier, then a member 
and licentiate in the second Baptist church in Bos- 
ton, be invited to serve as a supply until the first of 
May following, which invitation he accepted. At the 
expiration of that time, Mr. Collier was invited to 
continue six months longer, but declined, on ac- 
count of ill health. Now for about one year, the 
church was supplied only in a desultory manner, by 
neighboring and travelling ministers, when Mr. Col- 
lier, who in the mean time had been ordained, was 
invited to officiate as pastor for at least one year. He 
accepted the invitation, and arrived here on the 14th 
of October, 1800. 

Some time in the following winter, the corpora- 
tion of the church, by and with the consent of the 
church, came to a resolution to build a new meeting 
house, the old one having become so much decayed 
that it was judged to be unsafe any longer to occupy 
it. The old house was taken down in March, 1801, 



1789 nineteen; in 1790, twenty-two; in 1791, nine; in 
1792, nine; in 1793, seven; in 1794, seven; in 1795, 
twelve; in 1796, six ; in 1797, one; in 1798, eighteen. 
The aggregate increase of the church in his time was, to be 
sure, small; but this was owing to dismissions, exclusions, 
and deaths. The church, when he became pastor, ccnsist- 
ed of one hundred and ninety-four members, and when he 
died, of two hundred and twenty-five. 



35 

and the new one opened on Lord's day, the 2d of 
May, 1802 ; on which occasion, after prayer by the 
pastor, Mr. Collier, an appropriate discourse, from 
Ex. 20 : 24, was delivered by Dr. Stephen Gano, of 
Providence.* 

Mr. Collier, by repeated agreements between him 
and the church, continued to officiate as pastor for 
more than three years. During this time, however, 
the church observing the duties of his situation to ex- 
ceed his strength, resolved, that it was expedient to 
procure some young man as a co-pastor, and accord- 
ingly procured Mr. Jeremiah Chaplin. f He arrived 
here Jan. 10, 1804 ; but previous to his arrival, Mr. 
Collier had received and accepted a call from the 
church at Charlestown, Mass., intending to remove 
thither the following spring. Accordingly, on Lord's 
day, April S, 1804, he preached his farewell sermon 
in this place, from Acts 20 : 32, and on the 12th of 



* While the new house was building, the church and 
congregation were favored with the use of what is called the 
French Church, in Pine-street, to meet in for worship. 

The foundation of this house, without any ceremony, was 
begun about the first of April, 1801, and the whole build- 
ing was completed within a little more than one year. It 
measures 80 feet by 65. It cost, including its furniture, 
about 825,000. Of the ground on which it stands, see p. 14. 

f Of Danvers, Mass. A young man of unblemished 
reputation, of a strong mind, of liberal acquirements, and 
of more than ordinary application. 



the same month sailed with his family for Providence, 
on the way to his new charge.* 

The church, being then without any ordained min- 
ister, solicited Mr. Chaplin to receive ordination and 
to take upon him the pastoral charge. After due 
deliberation he agreed to be ordained, but not im- 
mediately, as the pastor of this church. Arrange- 
ments were then made for his ordination, which took 
place in this meeting house, May 23, 1804.f 

The church still indulged a hope that Mr. Chaplin 
would accept their call, and become their pastor ; 
but God, who " hath determined the times before 
appointed, and the bounds of our habitation," had 
otherwise ordered : but a few months had elapsed 
when Mr. Chaplin, becoming strangely dissatisfied 
in his mind, and being solicited to return to Dan- 
vers, laid before the church a letter, in which he de- 
clined the acceptance of their call. The church, 
still willing to pursue their object, appointed a commit- 
tee to confer with and endeavor to prevail on him to 
continue ; but he, feeling it to be his duty to go, and 



* Mr. Collier was esteemed by the church and congrega- 
tion, as possessing a decent education, and as being a young 
man of good morals and motives. 

f Dr. Thomas Baldwin, of Boston, preached the ordina- 
tion sermon, from Daniel 12 : 3. Dr. Samuel Jones, o{ 
Pennypack, prayed at the laying on of hands, Dr. Stephen 
Gano, of Providence, gave the charge, and Elder John Wil- 
liams, of this city, gave the right hand of fellowship. 



37 

willing to avoid all temptations to the contrary, left 
the city, without giving any opportunity for further 
solicitation. 

The remaining part of this history, as it is insep- 
arably connected with my own ministry, I enter upon 
with considerable diffidence ; it being, as every one 
knows, impossible for a man to speak of himself, 
either favorably or otherwise, without being subject to 
misconstruction and misrepresentation. The task, 
however, at all hazards, must be performed. 

On the 6th of November, 1804, the church, ac- 
cording to their records of that date, assembled in 
their destitute condition, to deliberate on the impor- 
tant subject of procuring a pastor. As I, at their in- 
vitation, had visited them in the spring of 1802, and 
spent two Lord's days with them,* they of course had 
some knowledge of me ; and, from considerations 
best known to themselves, they agreed to send for 
me to spend three, four, five, or six months with 



* On leaviug the city, I gave a promise to a committee, 
appointed by the church to confer with me on the subject, 
that if I could reconcile it with duty, I would return and 
spend a few months with the church, the object of which on 
their part, I understood to be a trial of my qualifications as 
pastor; but finding on my arrival at home, an increasing 
demand for itinerant preaching, and my wife not only un- 
willing, but apparently determined never to go to New- 
York, I at once relinquished the idea of going, and commu- 
nicated my decision to the committee. 

4 



38 

them, as I might find most convenient ; that so, hy 
mutual observation and experience, we might have 
an opportunity to judge whether it was agreeable to 
the will of God that we should enter into the relation 
of pastor and people. Their letter of invitation I re- 
ceived at Fredericktown, Md., on the 17th of the 
same month, by the hands of their worthy messenger, 
Mr. Jonathan Weeden. My circumstances at that 
particular period were so ordered in Holy Provi- 
dence, that all obstacles* which had existed in the 



* Two of these I think it a duty to mention, as serving to 
show the special concern of Providence in my coming to 
this place. First, my sphere of labor : Though the pastor 
of the church at F/edericktovvn, Md., yet, by agreement, I 
was not expected to spend with them more than one Lord's 
day in every month; and therefore, commonly, had almost 
daily appointments published for at least a month, and often 
two months ahead ; which, at any other time than that at 
which the invitation came, would have prevented compli- 
ance. Secondly, the uniform determination of my wife not 
to remove from among her relations, especially not to settle 
in a city. Now, however, both these obstacles were re- 
moved ; so far, at least as they had operated in the way 
of a visit, for a few months to this place; for I, being just 
in a state of recovery from a severe illness of near three 
months, bad made no appointments; and the Lord having, 
in the time of my illness, removed by death our only child, 
a daughter of about twenty months old, my wife, overwhelm- 
ed, with distress at the loss, seemed for a time to forget her 
attachments to the place of her nativity, and to consider a 
journey as rather desirable than otherwise. 



way of my accepting the invitation were removed ; I 
accepted it accordingly, and arrived here on the 20th 
of December following. I came, not only, as the 
nature of the invitation implied, without knowing 
whether it would be the wish of the church that I 
should settle with them, but also without any inten- 
tion to do so. My intention was only to spend the 
winter season here, and then to return to my former 
and favorite course of itinerary labors. Soon, how- 
ever, I began to have doubts as to the correctness of 
my purpose ; for although no instances of awaken- 
ing appeared for some months, yet I thought I per- 
ceived, not only an increase of hearers and atten- 
tion, but also a growth of mutual attachment, between 
the people and myself. I felt them much upon my 
heart in prayer and preaching, and their conversation 
and conduct sufficiently manifested that they felt an 
interest in my labors. 

When I had been here but about six weeks, the 
church, by a committee,* presented me a call to be- 
come their pastor, bearing date February 8, 1805. 
This act, although it appeared rather premature, was, 
notwithstanding, on their part, such an expression of 
satisfaction and confidence, as could not fail to in- 
crease both my attachment to them, and my doubts 
as to the propriety of leaving them. I then wrote to 
several ministers and other christian friends, solicit- 

* John Duffie, John Bedient, and Jonathan Weeden. 



40 

ing their prayers and advice ; and found, from their 
answers, that they were all of opinion, that " the thing 
proceeded from the Lord." I was also considerably 
influenced by the conversation of such as I supposed 
to be God's children, not only of this church, but al- 
so of other churches, both in the city and in the 
country ; and especially, by the manner in which they 
were led to pray that I might see it to be my duty to 
remain here.* My suspense continued ; " And," to 
adopt the language of Paul to the Corinthians, " I 
was with you," brethren, " in weakness, and in fear, 
and in much trembling :" in weakness, being just in a 
state of recovery from a long and severe illness ; — in 
fear, lest I should make a wrong decision ; — and in 
much trembling, under a sense of my insufficiency for 
so great a work. " My speech and my preaching," 
as you well recollect, " was not with enticing words 
of man's wisdom," for which I neither had nor have 
either ability or inclination, " but," to the praise of 
divine grace, "in demonstration of the Spirit and of 



* I remember to have been peculiarly impressed, in one 
of our society meetings, under a prayer by Elder William 
Vanhorn, then pastor of the church at the Scotch Plains ; in 
which, after several other petitions on the same subject, he 
likened my mission to this city to that of Jonah to Nineveh, 
and prayed, seemingly, with more than common fervor, 
that I might not, like Jonah, run away from the work of the 
Lord. 



41 

power." 5 '(a) Of this, some in the present assembly 
are living witnesses. 

This testimony of the Spirit, began to appear in 
the latter part of February, and gradually increased 
until the vast change upon the face of nature, at the 
breaking up of a severe winter, and the ushering in 
of a beautiful spring and a fruitful summer, was but 
a just emblem of what was seen and felt in this church 
and congregation. What is said of the gospel dis- 
pensation in common might then, with a propriety 
seldom exceeded, have been accommodated to this 
place,* and to this people in particular: " Lo the 
winter is past, the rain is over and gone ; the flowers 
appear on the earth ; the time of the singing of birds 
is come, and the voice of the Turtle is heard in our 
land." (b) What beamings of the Sun of Righteous- 
ness ! what meltings of icy hearts ! and what Sow- 
ings of penitential tears ! what blossoms and buds of 
quickening grace ! what fruits and effects of living 
faith ! and what rejoicing and singing of new-born 
souls, were then witnessed here ? And why ? Be- 
cause the voice of the Turtle, the voice of the Holy 
Spirit, attending the gospel, was heard in our land — 
heard by many poor sinners, not only convincing 
them of " sin, of righteousness, and of a judgment to 

(a) 1 Cor. 3 : 4. (b) Cant- 2:11, 12. 

* The revival was not confined to this church : most of 
the churches in the city shared in it ; particularly that in 
Fayette-street. 

4* 



42 

come," but also testifying pardon to their guilty con- 
sciences and communicating peace to their broken 
hearts, through the precious blood of the precious 
Redeemer. Scenes were then opened and impres- 
sions made which can never be forgotten ; which 
now, indeed, we recollect with a mournful pleasure, 
each saying with Job, " O that I were as in months 
past ;" but which we shall recollect in heaven, with 
overflowings of immortal gratitude and everlasting 
praise. 

The first time I administered baptism in this city, 
was on Lord's day, March 3, 1805. We then had 
two subjects. On Lord's day, April 4th, I baptized 
eight.* Appearances in the church and congrega- 
tion, now began to be such as carried in them irre- 
sistible evidence that it was my duty, for a time at 
least, to continue here. Accordingly, on Lord's 
day, April 14th, I made known to the church, (they 
having tarried for the purpose after public worship,) 
that I accepted their call, dated the 8th of February 
preceding.! In May I baptized five ; who, added to 
those of March and April, and one baptized by Elder 
Chaplin, before he left the city, made sixteen, return- 
ed to the association that term, (May, 1805.) In 

* That day I was received as a member of this church, 
on evidence of good standing in the Baptist church at Fred- 
ericktown, Maryland. 

f This call provides that either party may be released 
from the obligation on a notice of six months. 



43 

June I baptized six ; in July, twenty ; and in Au- 
gust, twenty-four.* 

Now, in the course of Providence, I was called to 
go on a tour to the South : I calculated to return in 
September, but the yellow fever breaking out in the 
city, I did not return until the 22d of October. Dur- 
ing the rage of the epidemic, our meeting house was 
closed ; no church meetings were held, and, of 
course, no records were kept. 

The first time we met, as a church, after the fever, 
was on the evening of November 1st, when four per- 
sons, on a relation of their experience, were received 
as candidates for baptism, and who, on the Lord's 
day following, were baptized and acknowledged as 
members of the church. In December I baptized 
sixteen. 

Now again (circumstances in Providence render- 
ing it necessary) I made a tour to the South, expect- 
ing to return in January, but was detained so as not 
to arrive here until the 2d of April, 1806. During 
my absence the church was supplied, chiefly, by 
Elders Caleb Blood and John Ellis, by the latter of 
whom, on the 2d of March, six persons were bap- 
tized and received into the church. In April I bap- 
tized nine, and in May six ; making in all ninety-one 



* The two numbers last mentioned were the largest re- 
ceived during the revival. The most usual numbers were 
from six to twelve. 



44 

received on a profession of faith and baptism, from 
the association in May, 1S05, to that in May, 1806, 

The ingathering of which I now speak, was chiefly 
remarkable for its gradual progress and long continu- 
ance, both of which are evident, on viewing, in con- 
nexion with the numbers already mentioned, those 
reported to the association at a few of its succeeding 
meetings. At the meeting in 1807, w r e reported 81 ; 
at that in 1808, 94 ; at that in 1809, 53 ; at that in 
1810, 42 ; at that in 1811, 43; and at that in 1812, 
20 ; baptized and received, on profession of " re- 
pentance toward God and faith toward our Lord Je- 
sus Christ." 

In this view of the church, since my connexion 
with it, we have witnessed much that has been both 
pleasing and comforting ; and of which it is hoped 
we shall ever have a grateful recollection. 

Adversity, however, as well as prosperity, is an 
attendant on human life ; and it is no doubt, in great 
mercy to mankind, that, according to Ecc. 7 : 14, 
" God hath set the one over against the other," that 
so, either by a happy mixture or by a seasonable ex- 
change, the one may suppress presumption and the 
other despair. As this is true of human life in com- 
mon, so especially of christian life ; for every church 
of Christ, though at some times, like Jerusalem^ a 
vision of peace, is, nevertheless, at other times, like 
the Shulamite, a company of two armies. Both 
these conditions have been largely experienced by 



45 

this church. And as the number of hypocrites in a 
revival, generally, bears about the same proportion 
to that of real converts, which, in a harvest, the chaff 
does to the wheat, and as the last ingathering to this 
church appears, from her records, to have been much 
greater than any preceding one, so, consequently, it 
can be no matter of wonder, if among them there 
should have been a greater number of false profes- 
sors, " crept, in unawares," nor yet, that the separa- 
tion of the dead from the living, should have occa- 
sioned more labor and sorrow than had ever been 
endured in the family before. 

The principal cases of difficulty and labor which 
have occurred in this church, within a few years 
past, are the following : 

In 180S some dissention arose about doctrine, 
which, in the course of three years, occasioned the 
exclusion of eight or ten members ; some of whom, 
however, were persons of old standing in the church. 

In the same year another difficulty arose concern- 
ing slave holding. On this many meetings were held, 
and much discussion had ; when the church gener- 
ally, willing to discountenance the practice, resolved 
that in future no person holding a slave for life, should 
be admitted a member ; and appointed also a com- 
mittee to wait on such of her members as held slaves, 
to obtain, if possible, their consent to manumit them, 
at such periods as their several ages and times of past 
service might justify, and to take their certificates of 



46 

the same accordingly. As this committee was gen- 
erally successful, and as the church deemed it unjust 
to use any compulsive measures with those who had 
been received, and till then retained, though known 
to hold slaves, it was hoped that all would have been 
satisfied. Some persons, however, will be satisfied 
with nothing as a standard of propriety, but that 
which they themselves have set up : such remained 
restless ; and the spirit which they manifested, not 
only then, but also through the whole of the preced- 
ing discussion, left on the minds of many, very un- 
favorable impressions concerning their motives. Nor 
did that spirit depart with the termination of this bu- 
siness ; but ever after, distinguished a certain class 
of members, to the great disturbance of the church, 
so long as they remained in its connexion. 

At about the same time, also, the church was great- 
ly harassed with the solicitations of several young 
men for license to preach. Some of them were per- 
mitted to exercise their gifts before the church ; and 
although most of them discovered no qualifications 
for the work, it was, nevertheless, not without great 
difficulty that such were prevailed on to desist.* 

A dispute now arose between two members, in 
which those dissatisfied with the decisions of the 
church, whether on the question relating to slavery, 
or that relating to the applicants for license, united on 

* At about this time Mr. James Bruce was licensed. 



47 

one side, and pursued their object with all that vio- 
lence which, we are sorry to say, had long been 
characteristic of their proceedings. The difficulty, 
as to form, was settled ; but the resentment of one 
of the parties, and of those combined with him, re- 
mained ; wherefore, finding that they could not con- 
trol the church, they determined to leave it; # ac- 
cordingly, having increased their number to twenty- 
six, on the evening of the 26th of March, 1811, 
they laid before us a letter, requesting a dismission, 
to be constituted a church. In this letter (and which 
they had individually signed) they expressed the 
greatest christian affection, both for this church and 
its pastor : and assigned as their only reasons for ask- 
ing a dismission, that they entertained views of dis- 
cipline a little different from those of the church they 
addressed, and that they believed it would be for the 
glory of God that they should become a separate so- 
ciety.f The church, influenced by their apparent 



* To secure their dismission, they professed to be recon- 
ciled, and to have the good of the church much at heart. 

f Extract from their letter, dated " New-York, March 
S>6, 1811." 

"Dear Brethren : 

" We whose names are hereunto affixed, consider it a 
privilege in being permitted to address you in the endearing 
relation of brethren in our dearLord Jesus Christ ; and cannot 
but rejoice when we contemplae the gracious act of him 
who has called us, we trust, with the same hnly calling, 



48 

reconciliation, granted their request ; and, on the 
10th of April following, they were constituted* under 
the name of Zoar.f 

The difficulties of this church, however, which 
have occasioned so much noise in the world, are 
those which arose from the accusations brought 
against their pastor. What these accusations were, 
is well known ; no means having been spared to make 
them public, and to give them effect. 

How much trouble, both internal and external, 
they have occasioned us, is known only to God. 
To him, therefore, we commit our cause, and with 
him we leave our enemies, praying, that if consistent 



and hath made us experimentally one with him, notwith- 
standing our great unworlhiness. 

" We also trust we feel thankful for the fresh and green 
pastures which our good Shepherd has prepared for all who 
are called to be saints, and especially that we have been 
made to participate with you in the enjoyment of them. 
We also feel a glow of gratitude and praise for feeling and 
witnessing the goodness of the great head of the church, in 
sending us our beloved pastor, Elder Wm. Parkinson, 
under whose ministry God has visited and refreshed our 
souls, with the word of his power and consolation." 

* For reasons best known to themselves, they chose the 
pastor of the church they left, and, as they reported to him, 
unanimously, to preach, and he preached accordingly, hoth 
at the opening of the house they hired, in Rose-street, as a 
place of worship, and on the occasion of their consiitution. 

f This church dissolved in less than one year. 



49 

with his purpose, they may yet become the subjects 
of that repentance which is unto life ; or, if he have 
otherwise determined, still we leave them with him, 
" seeing that it is a righteous thing with God to recom- 
pense tribulation to them that trouble his people.' ' 
See 2 Thess. 1 : 6. 

For a considerable time past, however, this church 
has enjoyed the greatest peace and harmony that 
can be calculated on in this imperfect state. And al- 
though it is not with us, a time of special animation, 
nor of abundant increase, yet we have much for which 
to be thankful ; our church meetings are solemn and 
pleasant ; we have a small addition almost every 
month : we witness, in a numerous congregation, a 
respectful attention to the word of life, and behold 
some who " ask the way to Zion with their faces," 
and, we trust, their hearts "thitherward." 

In giving the history of this church, it will be ex- 
pected that notice be taken of the churches and min- 
isters that have proceeded from her. 

The churches : of these, two have been mention- 
ed already : the others, in the order in which they 
originated, are, the church at Peekskill,(a) the 
church at Stamford, (b) the Abyssinian church, (c) 



(a) State of New- York : time of constitution unknown. 

(b) Connecticut : constituted 1773. 

(c) Meeting in Anthony-street, New- York : constituted 
July 5th. 

5 



50 

the church at Newtown, (d) and the North Baptist 
church, (e) 

The ministers : these, in the order in which they 
were ordained, are Thomas Ustick,(/*) Ebenezer 
Ferris,(g-) Isaac Skillman,(&) Stephen Gano,(i) 

(d) Long- Island : constituted Sept. 12tb. 

(e) Meeting in Bud-street, New-York ; constituted Nov. 
13th, all in 1809. 

The church on Staten Island also was in a great de- 
gree formed of persons who had belonged to this church, 
The other constituents of that church were chiefly called 
under the ministry of Elder Elkanah Holmes, who was one 
of the first and most useful ministers that have ever labored 
on Staten Island. He now resides in Upper Canada. 

(/) Mr. Ustick was baptized in the 13th year of his age. 
The dates of his license and ordination we have not learned. 
He was educated at Rhode Island college, under president 
Manning. Life of Gano, p. 91. He was many years the 
pastor of the First Baptist church in Philadelphia, where 
he died, April 18th, 1803, aged about 50 years. 

(g) Mr. Ferris was dismissed, with others, to constitute 
the church at Stamford, Nov. 1st, 1773. He was licensed 
by that church, and has been, for many years, their pastor. 

(h) Mr. [afterward Dr.] Skillman was a native of New- 
Jersey, and a graduate of Princeton college. He was bap- 
tized and received a member of this church June 16, 1771. 
He was 14 years the pastor of the Second Baptist church in 
Boston. He then returned to his native state, and became 
pastor of the church at Salem, where he died but a few 
years since. See Dr. Baldwin's sermon at the opening of 
the new meeting house of the 2d church, Boston, preached 
Jan. 1, 1811, p. 27. 

(i) Dr. Gano is a son of the venerable proto-pastor of this 



51 

Thomas Montanye, (&) Cornelius P. Wyckoff,(Z) 
James Bruce, (m) John Seger.(&) 

church. He was bred a physician. He was baptized April 
2, 1785; soon after licensed to preach, and on August 2, 
1786, ordained. He has been for many years, the pastor of 
the First Baptist church in Providence, It. I. 

(k) Mr. Montanye is a son of Elder Benjamin Montanye, 
pastor of the Baptist church at the Deer Park, state of New- 
York. He was licensed Dec. 5, 1787. He was several 
years pastor of the church at Warwick, state of N. York, 
and is now pastor of the church at Southampton, Penn. 

(I) Mr. WyckofFwas baptized Dec. 6, 1807 ; licensed June 
21, 1808, and ordained the 9th of Nov. following. He is 
pastor of the North Baptist church in this city. 

(m) Deceased. The life of Mr. Bruce, though very short, 
embraced so many changes, and these in such swift succes- 
sion, as to render it remarkable : He was born Oct. 20, 1791. 
At the usual age he was bound an apprentice to a watch- 
maker. In the 15th year of his age, Dec. 7, 1806, he was 
baptized, on profession of faith in Christ: Oct. 17, 1809, he 
was licensed to preach, though under some restrictions, being 
an apprentice. The expectations, however, of his useful- 
ness in the ministry, were so great, that his friends interested 
themselves in his behalf, and raised, by subscription, $500, 
the sum which his master agreed to take for the remainder 
of his time. His freedom being obtained, he received a full 
license, and on the 21st of June, 1810, he was ordained, be- 
ing then but in the 18th year of his age. He took the pas- 
toral charge of the Baptist church on Staten Island, at whose 
request he had been ordained ; there he had several seals to 
his ministry, whom he baptized ; but falling into a consump- 
tion he served the church but about one year, when, on the 
15th of April, 1811, in the 19th year of his age, he fell asleep, 



52 

The largest number of which this church has, at 
any time, consisted, was 564 : this was in the spring 
of 1809 : and after dismissing 86 to form new 
churches, and several who have removed to the 
country, besides those taken away by death, and 
those separated from us by dismission and exclusion, 
we remain, in number, about 480. 

Now, having, in some manner, noticed both the 
circumstances which led to the constitution of this 
church, and those which have marked its progress, 
I come to make some improvement, from the text 
and the occasion. 

Did Samuel erect a monument to perpetuate the 
memory of Jehovah's goodness to ancient Israel ? 
He did ; is it not then the duty of christians, and 
particularly of christian ministers, to use the best 
means in their power, to preserve the recollection of 
divine mercies to the gospel church ; especially, to 
those branches thereof with which they are severally 
connected ? We think it is ; and, under a sense of 
this duty, I, with some care and labor, have col- 



it is hoped, in Jesus. Mr. Bruce was married to Susan, the 
only daughter of Mr. Christopher Halstead, of this city, and 
left one child, a son, who bears his own name. His widow has 
lately been married to Capt. John G. Clark, of New Rochelle. 
(n) Mr. Seger was licensed March 7, 1809; and ordained 
Jan. 7, 181?. He remains a member of this church. As 
his ordination has taken place since the delivery of this ser- 
mon, his name, of course, was not then mentioned, 



53 

lected the several parts of information concerning 
this church, which have now been communicated. 
Many things, probably, of which some expected to 
hear, have been omitted, either as being deemed un- 
important, or to avoid an accumulation of matter be- 
yond the limits of a sermon. Other events, for the 
same reasons, have been mentioned, without noticing 
all the circumstances which led to them. And if, in 
any instances, facts have been represented, not alto- 
gether correctly, I have the satisfaction to know that 
it hath not been done designedly ; having always had 
recourse to the best means of information, and hav- 
ing invariably aimed at truth. 

Was it the design of Samuel, that the Ebenezer 
which he reaped should excite in the Israelites, when- 
ever they viewed it, gratitude and praise to their great 
Deliverer? It evidently was. O that these my 
feeble labors may, under the divine blessing, have 
that effect upon the members of this church ! If so, 
my beloved brethren and sisters, you will, not only 
at the present hearing, but also at every review of the 
mercies now enumerated, adopt the language of the 
text, and in glowing gratitude say, Hitherto hath the 
Lord helped us. 

In the use of these words 

1. We imply that, like the Israelites, we have ex- 
perienced a state of warfare ; and which we have, 
both as individuals and as a society. As individuals 
we have had, in common with other christians, to 
5* 



54 

combat indwelling sin, a tempting devil, and an en* 
snaring world. And as a society, this church, as 
appears from the preceding history, has experienced 
many internal commotions and external attacks ; and 
some of them of a very singular nature, and produc- 
tive of more than ordinary tribulation. 

2. We acknowledge, with Israel, that our support 
hath been, not of ourselves, but of the Lord ; the 
Lord hath helped us. This acknowledgment we 
have individually, had frequent occasions to make. 
How often has each, on reviewing conflicts with the 
propensities of an evil heart, and the stratagems of 
Satan and the world, had reason to say, these ene- 
mies of my soul had gained the victory, but the Lord 
helped me ! The ordinary means through which the 
Lord helps, that is, strengthens and encourages his 
people, are his word and ordinances : nevertheless, 
most of them have to acknowledge his help also, by 
remarkable dispensations of his providence and spe- 
cial operations of his Spirit : by remarkable dispen- 
sations of his providence : some by dispensations 
which either removed them from temptation, or pre- 
vented them from sinning ; others by dispensations 
which either kept them from taking measures which 
would have involved them in trouble, or being in- 
volved, marvellously delivered them ; and others by 
dispensations which either preserved or furnished to 
them the necessaries of life, when all their efforts 
failed and all their hopes had fled : by special opera-* 



55 

tions of his Spirit; operations by which his perfec- 
tions and promises were seasonably impressed upon 
their minds. How often, believer, when on the verge 
of giving way, either to despondency or immorality, 
has the thought, " Thou, God, seest me," prevented ! 
How frequently, also, when sinking under present 
trials, or under the prospect of trials approaching, 
has the address, " My grace is sufficient for thee ; 
my strength is made perfect in weakness," checked 
your unbelief and made you feel " strong in the Lord 
and in the power of his might?" As a church, also, 
we have abundant reason to make the same acknow- 
ledgment ; for, to use the language of the psalmist, 
" If it had not been the Lord who was on our side, 
when men rose up against us ; then they had swal- 
lowed us up quick, when their wrath was kindled 
against us." Psalm 124 : 2, 3. 

3. We acknowledge, not only that the Lord hath 
helped us, but moreover, that his help hath been in- 
cessant : hitherto, all the way, every step, and every 
moment, hath the Lord helped us. Have we endured 
tribulation? The Lord hath strengthened us : have 
we experienced deliverance ? The L ord hath wrought 
it: have we had occasions of rejoicing? The Lord 
hath furnished them : and, if we have had hearts pre- 
pared for thanksgiving, the Lord hath prepared them ; 
for "the preparation of the heart," as well as every 
other blessing, " is from the Lord." 

But if the Lord hath thus helped us hitherto, then 



56 

1. Let us not look to any other helper for the time 
to come. This was often the God-provoking sin of 
Israel. How frequently and how marvellously did 
God deliver them ! yet how prone were they to " look 
to Egypt for help," and to " trust in an arm of 
flesh," yea, in dumb idols ! O that we may never 
be left to act in like manner ! 

2. Let us be careful never to distrust his favor. 
Why should we ? Hath he ever been unto us as a 
barren wilderness or a land of darkness 9(a) Or hath 
he ever been unmindful of his word on which he had 
caused us to hope ?(6) On the contrary, hath he not 
often exceeded our largest expectations, and even 
astonished us with displays of his favor, both in tem- 
poral and spiritual things ? We have also the strong- 
est assurances of his presence and support for time 
to come ; he is saying to every believer, " I will nev- 
er leave thee, nor forsake thee, "(c) and, " as thy 
days, so shall thy strength be :"(d) to indulge dis- 
trust is, therefore, a base requital of his mercy, and 
even an impudent challenge of his veracity ; yea, it is 
to repose less confidence in him, than we do in a fel- 
low creature ; for even a man whose friendship and 
faithfulness we have long experienced, we think wor- 
thy of our confidence, that is, in a sense and to a de- 
gree consistent with frail nature ; and if he have giv- 



(a) See Jer. 2 : 31. (6) See Psal. 119 : 49. 
(c) Heb. 13 : 5. (d) Deitf. 33 : 25. 



57 

en us a promise, and possess the means of accom- 
plishing it, we expect the favor promised. How 
much more should we believe God, with whom it is 
impossible to lie, and, in the proper use of means, 
look for all we need from him, who, with heaven 
and earth at his command, is saying, " They that 
seek the Lord shall not want any good thing." (e) 
Difficulties may be great; but, "is anything too 
hard for the Lord V(f) Times may be trying ; but 
they are all in the hand of the Lord, and in him, 
therefore, we are exhorted to " trust at all times."(o-) 
Circumstances may be perplexing, but all things work 
together for good, to them that love God, to them 
who are the called according to his purpose. (h) Let 
each believer, then, recollect the injunction, " com- 
mit thy way unto the Lord,"(-^) and, in humble, holy 
confidence, say, " The Lord will perfect that which 
concerneth me."(&) As a church, let us adopt the 
language of triumphant Israel: " God is our refuge 
and strength, a very present help in trouble ; there- 
fore will not we fear, though the earth be removed, 
and though the mountains be carried into the midst 
of the sea ; though the waters thereof roar and be 
troubled, though the mountains shake with the swell- 
ing thereof. Selah. There is a river, the streams 



(e) Psal. 34 : 10. (/) Gen. 18 : 14. 

(g) Psal. 31 : 15, and 62 : 8. (h) Rom. 8 : 28, 

{i) Psal. 37 : 6. (k) Ibid. 138 : 8. 



58 

whereof shall make glad the city of God, the holy 
place of the tabernacles of the Most High. God is 
in the midst of her ; [the church ;] she shall not be 
moved; God shall help her, and that right early." 
Psal. 46 : 1—5. 

Brethren, do you need additional excitements to 
perseverance ? recollect the cause you have espous- 
ed is the cause of God, and therefore must inevitably 
succeed ; the warfare in which you are engaged is 
that in which Jesus bled, and yet, bleeding, over- 
came ; the enemies you oppose are the enemies of 
Jehovah, and will, therefore, most certainly be sub- 
dued. Do you contend with sin? "It shall not 
have dominion over you f'(l) — with Satan ? " The 
God of peace shall bruise him under your feet short- 
ly ;"(»&) — with the allurements of the world *? " The 
fashion of this world passeth away, "(ft) and " the 
works that are therein shall be burnt up."(o) Victo- 
ry ! Victory ! on the part of Zion, remember, is cer- 
tain ; for God hath said unto her, " No weapon that 
is formed against thee shall prosper ; and every 
tongue that shall rise against thee in judgment thou 
shalt condemn. "(p) Nor can the conflict be long. 
Here I am reminded of an address to ancient Israel, 
which I think not inapplicable, my brethren, to 
you: "Your fathers, where are they V(q) But 

(1) Rom. 6 : 14. (m) Rom. 16 : 20. 

(n) I Cor. 7 : 31. (o) 2 Pet. 3 . 10. 

(p) Isai. 54 : 17. (q) Zech. 1 : 5. 



59 

about half a century hath elapsed since the constitu- 
tion of this church ; yet not even one person who 
was a member then, remains a member now. Where 
are they ? With the exception only of one,* they 
are gone to eternity ; and, we trust, through grace to 
glory. Many also of those added since the constitu- 
tion, have already been called from the church mili- 
tant to the church triumphant. And you who re- 
main are hastening to give place to another genera- 
tion, both in the church and in the world. Some of 
you already exhibit strong marks of decaying nature ; 
and, in a few years at most (afflicting thought to those 
who shall remain !) your sage advice will no longer 
direct the councils, nor your silver locks grace the 
assemblies of this church and society. May your 
last days be your best days ! may you " come to the 
grave in a full age, like as a shock of corn cometh in 
in his season !"(r) and while the afflicted church shall 
be lamenting their loss, may you be adoring before 
the throne of God ! 

Others of you are, it is true, yet in the vigor of 
your days : nevertheless, be not dismayed under the 
anticipation of remaining trials : many trials that you 
anticipate may never occur ; and what though all you 
anticipate, and thousands more should be realized ; 
a covenant God can and will sustain vou under them, 



* Samuel Edmunds ; see p. 10. 
(r) Job. 5 : 26. 



60 

and make you triumphant over them. Some of you, 
probably, like many who have gone before, will be 
called at noon ; called from the field of labor and 
conflict, to the mansion of repose ; and from the 
scorching sun of persecution and tribulation, to the 
inexhaustible fountain of living waters. For Zion's 
sake, however, it is desirable that many, and, if agree- 
able to the Divine purpose, all of you might be con- 
tinued " to a good old age" in the church below. Nor 
should the prospect thereof discourage you ; for hu- 
man life, at its greatest length, is likened but to a 
span, and its rapidity to that of a weaver's shuttle. 
How soon will it have past away ! Remember, then, 
my dear young brethren and sisters, that soon you 
will be viewed as the fathers and mothers in this our 
Israel ; and consequently, that soon the care and gov- 
ernment of this church will devolve upon you. Un- 
der this impression, permit me to exhort you to be 
much engaged in searching the scriptures, and in 
praying to God for an understanding of them, that 
you may possess the requisite knowledge of doctrine 
and discipline ; also that you study to keep your 
conversation garments unspotted, to be grave, sober- 
minded, kindly ajfectioned, and yet faithful one to 
another ; that you endeavor to learn by the sufferings 
and deliverances of this church, which you have wit- 
nessed ; and by the steady, uniform, and scriptural 
course of discipline which she has pursued : that so, 
in knowledge, in purity, and in faithfulness, you may 



61 

be examples to those who shall, hereafter, be as your 
children in church relation. For your encourage- 
ment, recollect that at every stage of your pilgrimage, 
and finally, at the close of life, it will be your priv- 
ilege as well as your duty to say, Hitherto hath the 
Lord helped us. 

In the address to ancient Israel, already noticed, it 
is not only asked, " Your fathers, where are they?" 
but also " The prophets, do they live for ever?" that 
is, in this world. No ; so neither do your pastors ; 
your venerable Gano and your learned Foster, have 
long since laid by their trumpets and received then- 
crowns ; and the period is advancing on the rapid 
current of time, when your poor servant who now 
addresses you, shall also finish his labors, and bid 
adieu to the sanctuary of God on earth. He, how- 
ever, who hath " obtained gifts for men," and who 
hath hitherto supplied you, can supply you still ; may 
he ever furnish you " a pastor after his own heart, 
who shall feed you with knowledge and understand- 



ing!" 



A few words to the congregation. — Beloved hear- 
ers, think, O think, how many of your acquaintance 
who once attended with you here, have gone to their 
eternal home : alas, how many without having given 
any evidence of regeneration ! You are yet spared ; 
for what purpose God only knows. O that it may 
yet appear to have been, that your precious souls 
might so hear as to live ! Many of you have been 
6 



62 

attendants here from early life ; some of you have 
attended until you have seen your children, and in a 
few instances, your children's children, attend with 
you ; yea, some of them become members of the 
church ; but still (sad consideration) you are without, 
and many of you, it is to be feared, are still dead in 
sin. May God, that quickeneth the dead, make you 
alive to himself, and fit you for a place in the spirit- 
ual building ! Many of you, both old and young, 
have been abundantly liberal in the temporalities of 
this church, and friendly and useful under our vari- 
ous sufferings ; for these favors please to accept our 
unfeigned thanks, and permit us to say, we love you, 
and long for your salvation. O that you may not 
be like those who aided in the labor of building the 
ark, and yet perished in the flood ! 

To conclude ; may this church continue parallel 
with time itself — may she ever see her foes disappoint- 
ed, and her friends prospered, — may she enjoy many 
and great effusions of the Holy Spirit, — receive into 
her bosom frequent and numerous accessions of the 
Lord's elect, — and, on her way to heaven, participate 
the glory of the millennial kingdom. At every return 
of her Jubilee, may her pastor continue her history ; 
and may every succeeding record contain less of the 
painful and more of the pleasing ; especially, may 
there ever be found in her members a heart to say, 
Hitherto hath the Lord helped us ; until u the Lord 
himself shall descend from Heaven widi a shout, with 



63 

the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of 
God ;" and then, her members that shall have re- 
mained on earth being changed, and those that shall 
have fallen asleep being raised, may she, in all her 
successive generations and mingling in the general 
assembly of the Lord's redeemed, enter the gates, in- 
herit the joys, and assist the songs of the heavenly 
Jerusalem ! Even so, Lord Jesus. Amen and 
Amen. 



SERMON, 



DELIVERED IN 



'S'iSSI 5&a2!3! l iB?EE$r@' m®w^i^ 



FIRST BAPTIST CHURCH IN THE CITY OF NEW-YORK, 



AUGUST 20th, 1812. 



BEING A DAY RECOMMENDED BY THE AUTHORITIES OF THE 
NATION AS A DAY OF 



SPECIAL HUMILIATION AND PRAYER, 



ON ACCOUNT OE 



THE PRESENT WAR. 



. PARKINSON, A.M., Pastor. 



" He maketh wars to cease," &c. Psalm xlvi. 9. 



NEW-YORK; 



RE- PUBLISHED BY A FRIEND. 

John Gray, Printer. 

1846. 



SERMON ON WAR. 



1 Chronicles 5 : 18 — 22. 

18. The sons of Reuben, and ihe Gadites, and half the tribe of Manasseh, of 
valiant men, able to bear buckler and sword, and to shoot with bow, and skilful 
in war, were four and forty thousand seven hundred and three-score, that 
went out to the war. 

19. And they made war with the Hagarite?, with Jetur and Nephish, and No- 
dab. 

20. And they were helped against them, and the Hagarites were delivered 
into their hand, and all that were with them ; for they cried to God in the bat- 
tle, and he was entreated of them, because they put their trust in him. 

21. And they took away their cattle ; of their camels fifty thousand, and of 
their sheep two hundred and fifty thousand, and of asses two thousand, and 
of men an hundred thousand. 

22. For there fell down many slain, because the war was of God. And they 
dwelt in their steads until the captivity. 



This piece of sacred history records the parties 
and circumstances of an ancient war. 

The parties on the one side, the Israelites, who 
were the descendants of Jacob, and on the other side, 
the Hagarites, who were the posterity of Ishmael, 
but called Hagarites, after Hagar, Ishmael's mother. 
The branches of each family that were engaged in 
the war are particularly named. Of the family of 
Jacob, " the sons of Reuben, and the Gadites, and 
half the tribe of Manasseh;" who all lived together 



68 

on the east of Jordan, and who are said to have been 
" valiant men, men able to bear buckler and sword, 
and to shoot with bow, and skilful in war." v. 18. 
And of the family of Ishmael, or the Hagarites, " Je- 
tur, and Nephish, and Nodab"* that is the posteri- 
ty of these men, and who were the sons of Ishmael. 
Gen. 25 : 15. 

The Circumstances : 

1. " The war was of God." v. 22. 

2. It was w r aged on the part of God's Israel ; " they 
made war." &c. v. 19. 

3. The forces engaged were very unequal ; of the 
Israelites, 44,760, v. 18, and of the Hagarites, pro- 
bably three times that number ; for, besides 100,000 
of them taken prisoners, " there fell down many 
slain." v. 21, 22. Yet 

4. The conquest was on the side of Israel, v. 20. 

5. The conquest was given them by divine inter- 
position ; " they were helped against them, and the 
Hagarites were delivered into their hands, and all 
that were with them ;" that is all their possessions. 
Ibid. 

* Nodab is supposed to be the same with Kedemah, men- 
tioned with Jetur and Nephish in the place referred to in 
Genesis. — Dr. Gill in loc. Or perhaps he was the same with 
Nebaioth, Ishmael's eldest son. Gen. 25 : 13. For as it 
is not certain that any people, in scripture, are named after 
him, it is probable that they who in heathen writers are 
called Nabatbaei were his descendants. So Dr.:, Jackson 
and Bs. Patrick. 



69 

6. The success of Israel was in answer to prayer : 
11 for they cried to God in the battle, and he was en- 
treated of them, because they put their trust in him." 
Ibid. 

7. What the providence of God delivered to Is- 
rael, they took ; and which furnishes an example of 
what may be lawfully done in a lawful war. They 
took men, — of these 100,000, which alone was near 
5000 more than twice the whole number of the army 
of Israel. They took property, — of camels 50,000, 
of sheep 250,000, and of asses 2000, v. 21. They 
took possession also of the enemy's territory, "and 
dwelt in their steads until the captivity." v. 22. 

As the text is entirely historical, the remarks al- 
ready made must serve both for exposition and intro- 
duction. 

The subject, of which the text is a history, observe, 
is WAR, and therefore, confessedly, a very extraor- 
dinary one to be discussed in the palace of the 
Prince of Peace. But, if the subject be extraordina- 
ry, so also the time and the occasion. We are as- 
sembled in a time of war, and agreeably to the recom- 
mendation of the constituted authorities of our coun- 
try, for special humiliation and prayer. Humilia- 
tion for our sins which have contributed to the com- 
mon mass of national guilt, for which our country is 
visited ; and prayer, that God, the only proper object 
of our hope, would interpose his mercy and power in 
behalf of these United States. Nor is it the design 



70 

of the speaker, by any means to increase, but by all 
means to moderate that flame of contention which, 
among our citizens, already burns — nor to provoke 
to greater outrage, but if possible, in some measure to 
conciliate those parties which, to the great injury of 
our country, and the triumph of its enemies, already 
exist. 

In the prosecution of this design, it is proposed to 
show, 

I. That such evils accompany war, as make it al- 
ways to be deprecated. 

II. That, notwithstanding these evils, a nation may 
be so treated by another, as to justify, on her part, a 
declaration of war, and that the same cannot be avoid- 
ed consistently with her dignity, her safety, or even 
her independence. 

III. What concern God has in war: " The war 
was of God," and 

IV. What measures, especially in a moral point 
of view, are proper for a nation to take in relation to 
war — when exempted from it — when threatened with 
it — and when involved in it. 

I. That such evils accompany war, as make it al- 
ways to be deprecated. 

War necessarily occasions an increase of taxa- 
tion. This, in a free country is, to be sure, the less 
oppressive by being only internal, — and under an 
elective and representative government like ours, 



71 

still less so, by being voluntary, both the ratio of the 
tax and the articles subject to it, being determined 
by men chosen by the people. Nevertheless, the 
revenue must be collected, and, of course, the burden 
felt. 

War occasions, inevitably, an interruption of com- 
merce ; and thus while it increases expense, both 
public and private, it also lessens the means of de- 
fraying it. In times of war, the produce of the coun- 
try has chiefly, if not wholly, but an internal con- 
sumption, and consequently the harvests of the hus- 
bandman either remain in his granaries, or are vend- 
ed at a price not equivalent, either to his toils or his 
expenses. The ships of the merchant, if not appro- 
priated to the purposes of war, are in a state either of 
perpetual hazard abroad, or of decay at heme. And 
the honest mechanic, with perhaps a numerous as 
well as dependent family, is without employ, or em- 
ployed at wages, not adequate to the support of him- 
self, and those dependent on him. 

These evils, though considerable, are nevertheless 
small when compared with others arising from the 
same source. 

A separation of the nearest relatives, and loss of 
the choicest comforts of natural, civil, and social 
life, are among the invariable concomitants of war. 
Think for a moment of such a number of our valua- 
ble citizens, of different ranks and ages, and from all 
parts of the union, as would be requisite to constitute 



72 

an army and a navy sufficient to contend with a potent 
enemy — think of these taking leave of their homes 
and connexions for the place of danger. How af- 
fecting the objects that are presented to view ! — Whole 
families bathed in tears, and overwhelmed in grief! — 
Nor dare we disapprove ; — the occasion demands it — 
at least the sensibility and sympathy of parents, 
wives, and sisters, sufficiently account for it — and 
even the brave soldier, or the valiant officer must be 
excused should he drop a tear. 

This still is but as the " beginning of sorrows." 
For leaving their families to the inconveniences, 
griefs, and anxieties naturally resulting from their be- 
reavement, we must now spend a thought on the 
toils, the dangers, and the apprehensions of our be- 
loved fellow citizens, gone, as with their lives in their 
hands, to fight our battles, and maintain our rights. 
See them encountering either the hazards of the con- 
flicting elements upon the mighty ocean, or the ri- 
gors of the various seasons, in long and fatiguing 
marches by land. Or view them actually engaged in 
battle, and facing ten thousand shafts of death ! How 
eventful the hour ! Ah ! ye fond connexions left 
behind, could ye witness the bloody conflict, how 
would your hearts beat with painful expectation ! 
The sanguinary scene is past ; — and perhaps thou- 
sands of immortal souls are hurried to the bar of 
God, to give an account for " the deeds done in the 
body. 1 ' This, were it but once to occur, would be im- 



73 

portant ; — but probably it must be often, very often 
repeated, before the balance of national power be 
decided, the murderous process terminated, and the 
instruments of death ag-ain immured. 

o 

War, especially when, like that of the American 
revolution and most of the modern wars in Europe, 
it inundates the country, always becomes an inter- 
ruption of public worship, and an obstacle to learning 
and science, and the cultivation and improvement of 
all the useful arts. Houses of worship and semina- 
ries of learning, are, under such circumstances, com- 
monly closed and abandoned ; and if taken by the 
enemy, usually converted into barracks for soldiers, 
or perhaps stables for horses. That such was the 
fate of public buildings in this and other cities on our 
continent, during the revolutionary war, is well recol- 
lected by many in this assembly. 

War, moreover, is a fruitful source of almost all 
manner of wickedness. Not to speak of that flood 
of immorality which commonly attends an army, and 
which more or less disseminates its baneful influence 
among all classes of society, war has its very origin 
in wickedness : " Whence come wars and fightings 
among you ? Come they not hence even of your 
lusts?" Jas. 5:1. As between individuals or 
families, so between nations, whenever war occurs, 
there must be, on one side at least, an egregious de- 
parture from equity and justice, and which can only 
proceed from the lusts of the human heart ; such as 
7 



74 

resentment, envy, and jealousy; restless ambition, 
false glory, wantonness of power, or perhaps a mere 
thirst for dominion. When these lusts predominate, 
right is forgotten, national charters are disregarded, 
and the most solemn treaties wantonly violated. Yes, 
to gratify these detestable passions, armies, consisting 
of thousands, have been deliberately sacrificed, and 
multitudes, which no man can number, have been 
precipitately launched into the world of spirits. Alas, 
how many into the world of misery ! 

When these, and many other evils that might be 
mentioned, as accompanying war, are duly consider- 
ed, surely no one can doubt that war is always to be 
deprecated. Nevertheless, I proceed to show, 

II. That a nation may be so treated by another, 
as to justify, on her part, a declaration of war, and 
that the same cannot be avoided, consistently with 
her dignity, her safety, and even her independence. 

In this dilemma a nation is involved when another, 
in reference to her, violates, — perseveringly violates, 
the law of nations. This law I define thus : — It is 
the common consent of civil authorities, from time im- 
memorial, that all free and independent nations pos- 
sess equal rights and are entitled to equal privileges. 
By this consent nations are constituted a society, 
differing only as to magnitude, from that which ob- 
tains among individual free men. Hence, as among 
individuals, so among nations equally free and sove- 
reign, no one can claim the right of dictating another ; 



\ 



75 



nor do it, without violating, as in the one case the 
law of civil society, so in the other that of national 
usage. 

Suppose, for the sake of illustration,* that one 
man, though free, should presume to enjoin his will 
upon another equally free, — suppose he should say 
to him, You shall neither buy nor sell at such or such 
a market ; — or, finding him on the highway, going 
to or returning from market, he should forcibly take 
away his property and injure his person : — Or sup- 
pose that, seeing him in the pursuit of some profita- 
ble business, he should tell him, You shall pursue 
that business no longer; perhaps because he is in 
it himself and wishes to monopolize the profits ; or 
possibly, because he is so circumstanced as not to 
be able to engage in it, and therefore grudges his 
neighbor the advantage. Again, suppose he should 
fancy it to be the duty of this man whom he has un- 
dertaken to control, to be the enemy of every man to 
whom he is an enemy, and should treat the man him- 
self as an enemy when he thinks and acts otherwise : 
— or, supposing that, envying the peace and pros- 
perity of this certain man, he should employ his in- 
fluence, by secret missions, bribery, &c, to move 
his neighbors to commit depredations upon his prop- 
erty, or to excite his own family to mutiny ; — in fine, 



* This mode of illustration, it is hoped, will be excused by 
chose who do not need it. 



76 

suppose him to demand of this man, as a matter of 
superior right, any act whatever, as a token of infe- 
riority or submission : — suppose, I say, any one of 
the things mentioned, and you suppose what is a vi- 
olation of the common rights of free men. Can you 
then for a moment hesitate as to the duty of the citi- 
zen thus insulted I — thus injured ! — If, indeed, he 
possess no means of self-defence — no means of teach- 
ing his insolent neighbor his duty, and of showing 
to others that he is a free man, then, to be sure, he 
must peaceably submit. And if so, where his dig- 
nity, his safety, and Lis freedom ? They no longer 
exist. But, if the requisite means be at his com- 
mand, then say you, and I believe with united voice, 
let him avail himself of them — let him, without a mo- 
ment's delay, repel the attacks of the lawless usurper, 
and assert and maintain his own rights. 

The application to nations is perfectly convenient. 
If among the society of nations equally free and 
sovereign, any one presume to make her will the rule 
of another's conduct ; if, for instance, she prohibit, 
or attempt to prohibit, a free and neutral sister, the 
right of trade, at any port not legally blockaded and 
in articles not contraband ; — if she authorize, or (un- 
remunerated) permit her armed vessels to molest the 
merchant ships of her peaceable sister, — especially 
to plunder her property, and either to kill or to im- 
press her seamen ; — if she attempt any monopoly, or 
even any superior right upon the high seas, which, 



77 

not only by the law of nations, but also of nature and 
of nature's God, are equally free to all ; — if she use 
her influence by any means to excite the neighbors 
of a sister nation to acts of aggression against her, or 
to promote among her own people, disaffection to her 
government, and disunion of her members ; — if, I 
say, a nation do these things, then is she guilty of 
conduct similar to that supposed of a wicked, haugh- 
ty, and domineering individual, and is worthy of the 
same treatment to which, in your minds, that indi- 
vidual hath been already adjudged. 
- Now, how far the conduct of Great Britain toward 
this country, for at least five years past, hath assimi- 
lated her to such an individual, I leave you, my fel- 
low-citizens, to think for yourselves, claiming to my- 
self, as a free man, the right of doing the same. But 
supposing the similitude to be appropriate, and that 
the acts supposed, have been really committed: — can 
there, under such a supposition, a single doubt re- 
main as to the course which this country, in return, 
ought to have pursued? If, indeed, these insults 
and depredations had not been repeated — had they 
not been often repeated, — and had not a disposition 
been manifested, still to repeat them, it might have 
been well, on the part of this country, tc have for- 
borne. But having given no provocation to such 
treatment, having used, in vain, all honorable means 
to prevent it, and having already sustained considera- 
ble loss, not only of property and reputation, but 
7* 



78 

even of blood ; and this, all this, having been wan- 
tonly continued, until hope had become folly, and 
delay subjection ; there remained, of course, for our 
insulted, injured country, but two objects of choice : 
— Either she must tamely and dastardly submit to 
the dictates and oppressions of imperious Britain, and 
so make, at once, a surrender of her rights, and an 
acknowledgment that she is no longer free ; or, in 
the noble spirit of '76, call together her patriotic 
sons — vest them with authority — furnish them with 
arms, and say to them, Go, — go by sea and land, — 
go vindicate my rights, avenge my wrongs, and main- 
tain my liberty, the bounteous gift of heaven, and 
the invaluable price of your fathers' blood. The 
former she has nobly disdained, — the latter, by her 
constituted authorities, she has honorably, solemnly, 
and seasonably done. Nor was ever a mother's man- 
date more promptly obeyed. No sooner had it 
reached the ears of her free-born sons, than her flag 
was seen waving from every principal port on her 
meandering coast, and her standard planted, with her 
banner unfurled, at many of the principal avenues to 
the enemy, on her extensive frontier. And for what 
purpose ? Not to invade the rights of others, but to 
protect her own : and to do which, we are taught, not 
only by the impulse of nature and the dictate of rea- 
son, but by the voice of Revelation itself:* — yea, not 

* 2 Chron. 20 : 15. 



79 

to do it, were to sanction the vices of a rapacious foe, 
and to pour contempt on the favors of God. This, 
however, will become more evident, while I attempt 
to show 

III. What concern God has in war. " The war 
was of God." Text. 

His concern in this, as in all human affairs, though 
not always manifest, at least not in the same degree, 
yet always exists. And that not merely " as in him 
we live, and move, and have our being;"* but also, 
as by him all our changes are meted :— " God is the 
judge ; he putteth down one, and setteth up another."! 
'•I," saith he, " form the light and create darkness ?' 
I make peace and create evil ; I, the Lord, do all 
these things.":}: However strange, it is nevertheless 
evident, that God, for reasons certainly known, only 
to himself, did, at an early period of the world, dis- 
cover that his secret arrangements, in relation to the 
human family, provided for war : hence the remarka- 
ble government which he gave to the ancient He- 
brews, — a government in which all the males of Is- 
rael, able to bear arms, were, by divine command, 
divided, under several captains, into companies of 
thousands, hundreds, fifties, and tens ; ready for the 
field, whenever the circumstances of the nation ren- 
dered it necessary. Shall this be urged as furnishing 
an example of a standing army? Certainly not, 

* Acts 17 : 28. f Psalm 75 : 7. % Isaiah 45 : 7. 



80 

without either much ignorance or much sophistry. 
For the Israelites were not, like a standing army, a 
standing expense, and a standing nuisance to the na- 
tion ; nor, like that, an engine at the command of a 
lawless tyrant, to impose his will upon the people. 
No ; but rather like an enrolled and well regulated 
militia, — in peace, pursuing their civil employments 
and defraying their own expenses, and yet bestowing 
so much attention on the cultivation of military skill, 
as to be ready, on any emergency, to repair to the 
theatre of action. I am aware that it may be said, 
that God, in the arrangements made for war among 
the ancient Hebrews, had a mystical design ; — that 
the warlike state of the Hebrews was to prefigure that 
of the gospel church ; and that the wars they were 
commanded to wage, and the conquests they were 
enabled to gain, were typical of the wars which we 
are commanded to wage with our spiritual enemies, 
and the conquests which, through grace, we are en- 
couraged to expect. All this is readily granted. 
But were the Hebrews influenced by these consid- 
erations ? Or did they not rather act from the com- 
mon motives which influence soldiers ? or, at most, 
from a sense of present duty ; — while the mystical 
design remained to be understood by the gospel 
church, under the superior light of the gospel dis- 
pensation.* So, no doubt, God has had a design 

*Eph. 6 : 11—17. 



81 

no less important and no less worthy of himself, in 
all the wars, both ancient and modern, since the 
commencement of this dispensation ; nevertheless, 
that design remains to be understood by the church 
in the greater light of her millennial glory, or per- 
haps not fully until she arrives in heaven.* 

That God has a concern in war, appears in its 
commencement, its progress, and its termination. 

In its commencement. That he had such a con- 
cern in that war of which our text is a record, is plain- 
ly asserted : " The war was of God." In this, how- 
ever, as in all other events which give occasion for the 
exercise of human corruptions, we must always dis- 
tinguish between these corruptions and God's control 
of them. War, as already noticed, proceeds, on the 
part of men, from their lusts ; nevertheless, even 
these, in their propensity to war, as to every other 
outrage, are subject to the overruling power of God, 
as much as the elements of nature ; and his address 
to the raging ocean, is no less applicable to depraved 
man : " Hitherto shalt thou come, but no further ; — 
here shall thy proud waves be stayed."! " The king's 
heart," and so the heart of every human ruler and 
of every human being, " is in the hand of the Lord, as 
the rivers of water ; he turneth it whithersoever he 
will."t Hence, 

♦Matt. 24 : 6,7. Rev. 19 : 17, 18. Isai. 30 : 26. John 
13 : 7. 

f Job 38 : 11. tProv. 21 : 1. 



82 

Sometimes when men determine war, God pre- 
vents it ; either by checking their lusts, or frustrating 
their designs.* 

At other times, he not only permits in his holy 
providence, circumstances to occur, which call those 
corruptions into exercise, but also leaves men to pur- 
sue their dictates, either to conquest or to ruin, as 
he, in his righteous sovereignty may have deter- 
mined.f 

And there are also instances in which, either by a 
strange concurrence of providences, or by some mys- 
terious, ineffable and inconceivable impulse upon 
the minds of men, God manifests his concern in war, 
by actually stimulating to it : " The God of Israel 
stirred up the spirit of Pul and the spirit of Tilgath- 
pilneser, kings of Assyria," to make war against Is- 
rael. — 1 Chron. 5 : 26. Do we find our hearts ri- 
sing in opposition to such sovereignty? Let it re- 
mind us that we are depraved, and are not yet in due 
submission to Him, who is saying, " Be still, and 
know that I am God." Psalm 46 : 10. 

As God has a concern in the commencement, so 
also in the progress of war — which is long or short, 
severe or moderate, according to his sovereign con- 
trol. 

* 1 San*. 23 : 7—17, and 25 : 26, 34, and 1 Kings 12 : 
22—24. 

f 1 Sam. 4 : 9, 10 ; 2 Chron. 35 : 20—24 ; Deut. 1 : 
42—44. 



S3 

As the hearts of all are in his hand, he imboldens 
or intimidates them at pleasure.* 

As " unto" him " belong the issues from death." 
Psalm 6S : 20. It cannot be reasonably doubted 
that the shafts of battle, as well as of disease, are all 
directed by his sovereign hand. Witness the stone 
from Davdd's sling, which prostrated the vaunting 
Philistine, and the arrow from the "bow, which a 
certain man drew at a venture," but which, divinely 
directed, penetrated, — fatally penetrated " the king 
of Israel between the joints of the harness."! Yea, if 
not a sparrow, much less a man, can fall to the ground 
without his will. Matt. 10 : 29. 

Besides ; as at all times and places in common, 
the destinies of all men and of all nations are in his 
power,| so undoubtedly, in times of war, and at the 
place of battle. If not, why the exhortation, " Trust 
ye in him at all times ?" Psalm 62 : 8, — or why did 
God himself say to Israel, " The battle is not yours, 
but God's." 2 Chron. 20 : 15. 

Nor is the concern which God has in the war, any 
less manifest in its termination. " He maketh wars to 
cease." Psalm 46 : 9. And, as of him is the deci- 
sion of the contest so also the disposal of the conquest. 
" The battle is the Lord's." 1 Sam. 17 : 47. Men, 



* 2 Chron. 20 : 29, and 2 Kings 7 : 6. 
f 1 Sam. 17 : 49; 1 Kings 22 : 34. 
X 2 Chron. 20 : 6 ; Psalm 31 : 15. 



84 

indeed, commonly view these events as depending 
wholly on the comparative numbers and military skill 
of the forces engaged ; or, if any thing extraordinary 
occur, they attribute it usually to mere chance ; but 
in reality, they are like the lot, " The whole dispos- 
ing thereof is of the Lord." Prov. 16 : 33. That 
" the battle," as remarked by the wise man, " is not 
to the strong," i. e. not always, or not merely because 
strong, is evident from our text ; for the Israelites, 
compared with the Hagarites, were but few ; yet be- 
ing " helped," divinely helped " against them, the 
Hagarites were delivered into their hand, and all that 
were with them," i. e. all their possessions. That 
these events, however, depend on divine interposi- 
tion, no one surely can doubt, who for a moment re- 
views them in relation to the revolutionary war in this 
country ; for then, to use the language of scripture, 
" One chased a thousand, and two put ten thousand 
to flight ;" and why ? Because the war, like that 
recorded in the text, was of God. He moved our 
fathers to engage in it — he conducted them through 
die whole process, and he crowned them with victo- 
ry and triumph. 

From the consideration of the concern which God 
has in war, I proceed to show, 

IV. What measures, especially in a moral point of 
view, are proper for a nation to take in relation to 
war, — when exempted from it — when threatened with 
it, and when involved in it. 



85 

First. When exempted from it. 
During such times, the greatest care should be 
taken to preserve neutrality. To this the situation 
of the United States is peculiarly favorable ; being 
so widely separated by water from every other na- 
tion, from which a war of any consequence could be 
apprehended. The principles of neutrality are often 
violated by presumptuous individuals : but this evil 
it is in the power of government easily to remedy, 
by chastisement and remuneration. O that proud 
England had doue this ! Then had not our govern- 
ment, at this time, been driven to the last, the lamen- 
table resort of injured nations. 

While exempt from war, it is of primary impor- 
tance in preserving the blessings of peace, that the peo- 
ple preserve unity of sentiment on the principal mea- 
sures of government : strict adherence to the consti- 
tution, the great charter of national 7'ights, and a 
proper submission to " the powers that be." # It may 
indeed, often occur, that men in office act unworthy 
the trust reposed in them ; but, in such cases, the rem- 
edy lies not in faction, riot and defamation, but in 
elections. When these return, it is the privilege of 
the sovereign people to withhold their suffrages from 
those who have abused their confidence, and to give 
them to other and better men. 

But, above all, a nation, while exempt from the 

* Romans 13 : 1. 

8 



86 

evils of war, should habitually acknowledge God as 
the author and preserver of the blessings of peace. 
When he is forgotten, and the blessings enjoyed are 
ascribed to the merit of the people — the management 
of rulers — military power — or, indeed to any cause 
whatever, short of divine goodness, there is reason 
to expect public trouble at least, and, without national 
reformation, the scourge of war. " If," said God to 
the people of Israel, and which is not inapplicable 
to the people of these United States, — " If ye be 
willing and obedient, ye shall eat the good of the 
land ; but if ye refuse and rebel, ye shall be devour- 
ed with the sword, for the mouth of the Lord hath 
spoken it."* To this means of advancing either the 
prosperity, or the ruin of the nation, every individual 
may contribute, as he may contribute either to that 
morality, that " righteousness which exalteth a na- 
tion," or to that immorality, that " sin which is the 
disgrace of any people. "t However, when the mor- 
al character of a nation is taken into view, there are 
two classes in the community which require a more 
than ordinary attention. 

The one class intended, unites those who, in the 
providence of God, are called by the voice of the 
people, to transact the civil affairs of the nation ; 
whether by enacting laws or administering govern- 
ment. And as the moral qualifications requisite in 

• Isai. 1 : 19, 20. f Prov. 14 : 34. 



87 

these men are so much the topic of popular clamor* 
it may be proper, on this occasion, in some measure, 
to investigate that subject. 

It is contended by many, that they ought to be 
religious men. If by religious be meant regenerate, 
then is it indeed essential that they be religious men. 
Not, however, to qualify them to be statesmen ; for as 
their work, in that capacity, is wholly of a natural 
and civil kind, so also the qualifications, requisite to 
perform it ; but, in order to their own eternal salva- 
tion, — for God respects no man's person ; — and 
" Except a man," whether great or small, "be born 
again, he cannot see the kingdom of God." John 
3 : 3. 

But is it not awfully to be feared, that the greater 
part of those who make such an outcry against states- 
men, whom they deem irreligious, are themselves 
strangers to experimental religion ; and that their 
ideas of religious men extend no further than to men 
who, by education or otherwise, are connected with 
some religious sect, attend public worship, and ap- 
proach the Lord's table. But who does not discov- 
er that all this may be true of men, strangers to a 
work of grace upon the heart, and even of deists? 
That it is the duty of those who possess religion, to 
profess it, and the privilege of those who have been 
enabled to rely on the merits of Christ for salvation, 
to commemorate his sufferings in the ordinance of the 
supper, is heartily admitted ; but to make a profes- 



88 

sion of religion, especially a partaking at the Lord's 
table, a test of qualification for civil office, is to hold 
out a strong, if not the strongest inducement to hypoc- 
risy and impiety. Should it be said, they ought to 
believe ; as well might it be said, they ought to keep 
the whole moral law, and so to be perfect* But du- 
ty and ability are two things. And whoever makes 
such an observation proves, to me, that he is an utter 
stranger to living faith, or he would know it to be, 
not at the command of the creature, but the gift of 
God, and a fruit of the Holy Ghost.t If it be said, 
that it is the duty of men in public life, to observe, 
and treat with respect, the externals of religion,! it 
is only saying what I admit and contend is the duty 
of men in common. For the command of Christ, 



* Matt. 22 : 37—40. f Eph. 2 : 8, and Gal. 5 : 22. 

% Neglect of this duty hath been attributed to our Chief 
Magistrate, and to his worthy predecessor, and on which 
account they have been stigmatized as Deists. The charge 
is not true ;* and if it were, it could no more prove them to 
be deists, than neglect of the same duty proves many others 
to be so, who nevertheless stand high with their calumnia- 
tors. Whether those great men thus abused, are subjects 
of grace or not, is known only to God ; but of their being 
deists, I am bound to believe that there is no more evidence 
than of moral men in common being so, who make no pro- 
fession of experimental religion. 

* Thomai Jefferson constantly attended my ministry during the three years 
I was Chaplain to Congress. 



89 

"Search the scriptures,"* is binding on all, and the 
injunction on his ministers, " Preach the gospel to 
every creature,"t plainly implies the duty of every 
creature to attend where it is preached. But to con- 
tend, as many seem to do, that it is the duty of 
statesmen J to profess experimental religion, and to 
partake at the Lord's table, to set an example to oth- 
ers, is to contend that it is their duty to be hypocrites, 
in order to influence others to be so, and to " eat and 
drink damnation" that is condemnation, or judgment, 
or guilt, % to themselves, that, by their example, they 
may teach others to do the same. From such hy- 
pocrisy and wickedness " good Lord deliver us !" 
That it is not the object of those who reason in that 
way, to induce the men now in office in the United 
States to become guilty of such crimes, that so they 
might peaceably retain their several stations, is read- 
ily admitted ; for their object, on the contrary, is to 
have them removed : and why ? Not, surely, be- 
cause they refuse to be guilty of hypocrisy and impi- 
ety ! No ; but that they might fill the offices they 



* John 5 : 39. f Mark 16 : 15. 

t That is, because statesmen ; though they should be un- 
regenerate. 

§ 1 Cor. 11 : 27 — 29. From which scripture it is evident 
that faith is essential to an evangelical participation in that 
sacred ordinance, as without it none can discern the Lord's 
body. 

S* 



90 

hold with men of different politics. Should they 
succeed, I pray God that they may not be per- 
mitted to substitute men already guilty, or who are 
capable of becoming guilty of such deception and 
iniquity, in order to secure their favor ! For of all 
men that might be put into power, such are the most 
dangerous.* Nor does that, in my humble opinion, 
necessarily follow, in the event of such a change ; for 
although our citizens have been, unhappily, long di- 
vided and distinguished by the appellations of Fed- 
eralist and Republican, I have always thought, and 
now think, that there are men of equal integrity, abili- 
ties, and patriotism on both sides. And, indeed, the 
distinction itself is as unfounded as it is impolitic : 
for, under our government, no man can be a Feder- 
alist without being a Republican, nor a Republican, 
without being a Federalist ; the one having respect 
to the confederacy of the states, the other to the sov- 
ereignty of the people ; and both being comprehend- 
ed in our excellent constitution. 



» Even Gallio, who " cared for none of these things," bet- 
ter understood civil authority, and civil rights, and was more 
favorable to the Apostles than the Jews, especially the 
priests, who were great religionists. Acts 18 : 12 — 17. And 
if some in our country, who are called christian ministers, 
or others who adhere to them, were in power, how soon, 
alas, would the people be shackled with a religious, or rath- 
er, an irreligious establishment ! 



91 

After begging forgiveness for so lengthy a digres- 
sion, I come to offer my own opinion as to the 
moral qualifications that are desirable in statesmen, 
and the manner in which, as such, they ought to ac- 
knowledge God. 

Their moral qualifications : They ought to be 

1. Men of good morals, and 

2. Men of liberal sentiments ; — men rightly un- 
derstanding and duly appreciating the natural and 
unalienable rights of conscience ; — men who, though 
entitled, in common with other men, to the right of 
religious opinion, and the choice of religious society, 
yet claim no right to control the consciences of oth- 
ers, nor to dictate, in matters of religion, to their 
fellow-men. 

The manner in which they, in their official capaci- 
ty, ought to acknowledge God. This they should do 

1. By submitting to him alone, the rights of con- 
science, and, consequently, leaving all sects and all 
individuals to worship him, in that way and manner 
which, to them, shall appear to be most acceptable 
unto him ; provided, how T ever, that nothing in their 
customs and manners shall interfere with the rights 
of others, nor with the peace and good order of civil 
society. 

2. By discharging their official duties with an in- 
tegrity becoming the solemnities under which they 
entered into office, and in which they called upon 
him to witness their obligations. 

3. By acknowledging, at times of special emer- 



92 

gency, their need of his special direction, and re- 
questing their constituents to unite with them in im- 
ploring it. 

The other class of the community deserving spe- 
cial consideration, are professors of the christian reli- 
gion. And our duties, my brethren, in relation to 
the subject before us, are concisely and specifically 
stated in these words of our blessed Master : " Ren- 
der unto Caesar the things which are Caesar's, and 
unto God, the things that are God's." Matt. 22 : 21. 
That is, unto civil authority, render obedience in 
civil things, and unto God, and to him only, render 
obedience in spiritual things ; that so while they at^ 
tend to the duties of the one, they may not neglect 
those of the other. Christians should recollect that, 
as they " are the salt of the earth," in common, so 
in particular of the nations in which they respectively 
dwell ; and therefore that, as it is their duty to use all 
means to preserve peace and good order in the 
churches, with which they are connected, so also in 
the nations to which they belong. Especially they 
should be in the habit of returning thanks to God, as 
for all other blessings, so for the peace and prosperity 
of their nation, and of praying for " all that are in au- 
thority ; that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life 
in all godliness and honesty." 1 Tim. 2 : 2. 

As there are certain measures in relation to war, 
proper to be taken by a nation when exempted from 
it, so 

Secondly. When threatened with it. Here much 



93 

might be said as to erecting fortifications, preparing 
military stores, raising and arranging forces, &c, &c, 
but these I leave to statesmen, confining myself to 
what is of a moral nature, and which, therefore, 
comes more immediately within my province. 

As war, like every other judgment, is procured by 
sin, the first act of a nation when threatened with it, 
should be public humiliation. And this, as all are 
equally concerned, ought to be as general as possi- 
ble ; and therefore it is proper that a day or days for 
that purpose be recommended by the national gov- 
ernment. Not indeed to make it the duty of the 
people to fast and pray ; for that is already done by 
the authority of God himself, and by the example of 
his ancient servants ; # and if it were not, no human 
authority could make it so ;f but to secure the object 
just mentioned, unanimity : that so, from all the wor- 
shipping assemblies in the nation, the cries of the 
saints may ascend in one common and united prayer 
to the throne of mercy, for pardon of accumulated 
guilt, and preservation from threatened evil. Such 

* Zech. 8 : 19. Luke 5 : 35. Ezra 8 : 21—23. Jer. 
36 : 9. Joel 2 : 15—18. This, indeed, like all other ex- 
ternal acts of religion, may be enjoined and observed both 
by public and private persons, as a mere specious show of 
piety, and then it is an abomination to God. See 1 Kings 
21 : 7—13. Isai. 58 : 2—7. Matt. 6 : 16. But the abuse 
of a duty can never nullify it. 

f Matt. 15 : 9. 



94 

was the counsel of king Jehosaphat, and such the 
conduct of all Judea. 2 Chron. 20 : 3, 1. 

But suppose the cloud should still thicken, and 
either submission or war become inevitable ; it is 
then the duty of the constituted authorities of the na- 
tion to act as recommended in the case supposed by 
Christ, Luke 14 : 31, 32, that is, to consult whether 
they possess a sufficient power to afford a reasonable 
probability of success, should they engage in war ; 
if not, let them propose peace, which is to be pre- 
ferred on almost any terms, rather than a wanton and 
unsuccessful effusion of blood ; but if a sufficient 
force be at command to defend the rights, and pre- 
serve the property of themselves and their constitu- 
ents, let them recommend an immediate appeal to 
arms, and let all the people heartily acquiesce.* 
Hence 

Thirdly. The measures which, in relation to war, 
are proper for a nation to take, when involved in it. 
This, at least, as to form, is the present condition of 
these United States. And although I make no pre- 
tensions to special discernment, and much less to a 
spirit of prophecy, yet as I have uniformly said for 
seven years past, I still say, that, of war in this coun- 
try, there will be little more than the form. This 
opinion is founded in the firm persuasion that all the 



* This is plainly implied in the supposed case already al- 
luded ro. 



9-5 

modern wars that have occurred amons: the nations 
of the earth, are procured by that anti-christian abom- 
ination, a union of church and state; and as this 
abomination does not exist in our country, and is not 
provided for in our national constitution, so neither 
shall we share in the " overflowing scourge" which 
is designed to remove it. At Canada indeed it ex- 
ists, and British squadrons under the sanction of it, 
are cruising on our coasts ; and therefore it is with- 
in the limits of my opinion already expressed, that it 
may in those situations, occasion distress and blood- 
shed. And as it hath been attempted in some of our 
eastern states, what degree of trouble they may ex- 
perience on account of it, I will not pretend to de- 
termine. Of this, however, I have no doubt, that all 
governments under heaven, in which that abomina- 
tion has a being, must be shaken to their centre, and 
so changed in their forms, as to be no longer, as they 
now are, obstacles to the " free course" of the gos- 
pel, and the equal enjoyment of civil and religious 
liberty. The government of the Jews, which was 
originally a theocracy, became, indeed, by divine per- 
mission,* a monarchy ; and the Jewish nation, with 
their two-fold officers of kings and priests, was, it is 
admitted, a figure of the gospel church ; but then, as 
the antitype of their offerings was found in the sacri- 
fice^ so that of their kings and priests in the person 

♦1 Sam. 8:7. f Heb, 9 : 11 — 14. 



96 

of the MESSIAH,* who is not only the substance 
of preceding shadows, but also at once "King in 
Zion," and the great High Priest of our profession. 
Hence, as at his death, the Aaronic order and cere- 
monial service of right for ever ceased, t so at his 
resurrection ,$ the power and authority of all human 
kings. Nevertheless, as the ceremonies of the law 
were presumptuously persisted in by the Jews, until 
the destruction of Jerusalem, when it was no longer 
possible, the temple and its furniture being destroyed ; 
so have the nations of the earth presumptuously per- 
sisted, and will continue so to persist, in the support 
of kings and kingly governments, until the effectual 
destruction of anti-christian pow T er, both civil and 
ecclesiastical ; and then shall be taken up that doleful 
lamentation, " Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen, 
&c. For all the nations have drunk of the wine of 
the wrath of her fornication, and the kings of the 
earth have committed fornication with her," &c, &c. 
Rev. 18 : 2, 3.§ 

But to return : However confident I feel that the 
present war will not prove an overflowing scourge to 
our country, I do not, on this account, wish any re- 

*Heb.4 : 14. Rev. 17 : 14. 

f Dan. 9 : 24—29. Col. 2 : 14—17. 

X This is probably the true sense of Rom. 1 : 4, power, 
meaning authority. See also Acts 2 : 22 — 36. Here he is 
at once made Lord and Christ, the ruler and the priest. 

§ See also Ezek. 21 : 27. Daniel 7 : 9. Psa. 72 : 10. 



97 

taxation in the use of means ; for it is by these, I be- 
lieve, that God will preserve us. And therefore, as 
Paul, although he had a vision from Heaven assuring 
him that there should be no loss of the crew, never- 
theless said to the mariners, concerning means, " ex- 
cept these abide in the ship, ye cannot be saved ;"* 
so much more may I, having but a general view of 
the scriptures in support of my opinion, and being 
like men in common, liable to err, say to the rulers 
and people of our nation, without the means of de- 
fence, ye cannot be secured from the evils threatened : 
yea, to expect it, would be presumption. As to the 
means proper to be used, there can be no reasonable 
doubt. 

A primary object with every citizen, public and 
private, in church and state, should be to promote 
union, and firmness in the support of government. 
" A house," a family — a nation " divided against it- 
self, cannot stand." f On a disunion of the states 
and disaffection to the general government, the ene- 
my chiefly relies. Whoever, therefore, contributes 
to these, contributes to the interest and encourage- 
ment of the common foe of our beloved country ; and 
is therefore no longer worthy the honorable distinc- 
tion of an American citizen. 

Means, though to be used, are not to be trusted 
in. God alone should be the object of our trust : so 

•Acts 27: 31. f Mark 3 : 25. 

9 



98 

of Israel it is said in the text, " they trusted in him." 
Let us do likewise. He only can give that wisdom 
to our rulers, and that success to our forces, which 
are necessary to conquest. 

And as he is to be trusted in, so also to be called 
upon ; and that not only in common, nor only in 
common during war, but even in the time of battle : 
" they cried to God in the battle," — nor did they 
cry in vain; "he was entreated of them; because 
they trusted in him." Prayer then for success of 
arms, is evidently lawful, and availing. It hath been 
offered by God's Israel, and answered by Israel's 
God. May we, and may all God's people in these 
United States abound in it ! Then may we hope for 
a short war, and an advantageous peace. 

To the declaration of war lately made, on the part 
of our government, we all know there are many ob- 
jections. But when we consider whence they come ; 
— that from the same quarter, eleven years ago, the 
chambers of the capitol rang with arguments in favor 
of an appeal to arms for taking Louisiana ; which, 
in the wisdom of our then chief magistrate was, to 
much greater advantage, honorably purchased ; and 
that the same men who accuse the present adminis- 
tration of madness, for going to war, when, in fact, 
there was no other resort, no less accused the former 
administration of pusillanimity, for pursuing milder 
measures, notwithstanding there certainly did then 
remain grounds of hope that a reconciliation might 



99 

be effected ; — when, I say, these things are consid- 
ered, we are tempted, strongly tempted, to doubt, in 
this particular, their sincerity, and to conclude that 
all the outcry is intended only to answer electioneer- 
ing purposes, and to put the administration into other 
hands. 

It is urged that, had it been proper for our govern- 
ment to declare war, it should have been declared 
against France, as well as England. That the con- 
duct of France, toward this country, has been very 
unwarrantable, is not denied ; nor yet that a national 
adjustment with her may hereafter be necessary. It 
must be obvious, however, that the principal provo- 
cations to war have been only on the part of England : 
France has indeed robbed us on the highway of na- 
tions, and even burnt our vessels ; nevertheless she 
has not, like England, impressed our citizens, block- 
aded our harbors, and crimsoned our waters with 
American blood. 

It is contended that the declaration of war at all 
was impolitic. I cannot think so ; but believe that 
this declaration and correspondent arrangements, 
were, of all means, the most likely to procure peace — 
lasting and honorable peace. 

The present, however, is not the time to contest 
that point. When the flames are raging, it is too 
late for firemen to stand disputing whether, by certain 
means, they might not have been prevented from 
kindling ; their duty then is to unite in quenching 



100 

them. The flames of war are already kindled — they 
are gathering along our coast and threatening upon 
our frontiers ; the duty — the common duty, there- 
fore, of American citizens is, to use all means in 
their power, to bring the contest to the most speedy 
and most favorable issue. 

Yes, my friends, the time for idle and speculative 
debate is, with us, at an end. We, in holy provi- 
dence, are placed in a situation which demands the 
greatest national unity and exertion ; and which, in 
its result, must necessarily furnish occasion for the 
greatest national triumph or lamentation. From the 
latter may we be mercifully preserved ! In the for- 
mer may we soon participate ! And all the glory 
shall redound to God. Amen. 



HYMN, 

Sung at the close of Public Worship, when the preceding 
Sermon was delivered. 

1 Great God of all ! thy matchless power 
Should every nation still adore ; 
Thee, our sovereign, we would own, 
And bow before thy gracious throne. 

2 May peace her balmy wing extend, 
From age to age upon this land ! 

Grant Freedom and the Gospel's sound! 
Make every blessing here abound ! 

3 Our President with wisdom crown, 
His soul with thy rich grace adorn ; 
Resolve his heart, 'midst all his foes, 

" To launch the stream which duty shows." 

4 Over our Capitol diffuse, 

From hills divine, thy welcome dews ; 
While Congress, in one patriot band, 
Prove the firm fortress of our land. 

5 Our Magistrates, O Lord, sustain, 
Nor let them bear the sword in vain ; 
Long as they fill their awful seat, 
Be Vice seen dying at their feet. 

6 ,For ever from the western sky, 
Bid the destroying angel fly ; 

With grateful songs our hearts inspire, 
And round us blaze " a wall of fire." 

Parkinson's Select. H. 402. 
9* 



NO TE. 

The foregoing sermons have been long out of print, and 
are republished by the desire of many of the personal friends 
of the Rev. William Parkinson. Any imperfection that 
may be discovered in the reprint, will not, it is hoped, be 
laid to his charge, as bodily illness has, for a long time, kept 
him from active labor, and has prevented his usual accurate 
revision. It is now, (in the year 1846,) just half a century 
since he arrived at manhood, was baptized, and immedi- 
ately afterward entered upon the duties of a minister o^ the 
gospel ; and while some of his maturer labors are here again 
laid before the public, it may be profitable to look back to 
those of his early years, to see how his time was employed, 
and what example he set before the world. A letter to his 
venerated parents, written forty- eight years ago, and sub- 
sequently found among their papers, is therefore appended. 
Its publication at this time, has also been requested by some 
of his friends. It is apparent, from the tenor of this letter, 
that to the most devoted filial regard and respect to his beloved 
parents, he united ardent zeal in the sacred work he had 
undertaken, and his early, pious example, will not be with- 
out a salutary influence upon his youthful readers, while 
the more aged portion, especially those who sat under his 
long and faithful ministry, will be equally gratified with its 
perusal. 



103 



CarroVs Manor, Ma 1 ., Sept. 17, 1798, 

Dearly Beloved Parents : 

When I review the length of time which has past 
since I left you, sorrow fills my heart, and shame 
covers my face, to think I have never since written 
unto you — to you, who, under God, have guarded my 
infant state, and provided for my rising years. But 
when I recollect the cause of my not writing, I am 
less concerned for the omission. I am sure it has 
not been because I have forgotten you, nor yet for 
Want of a sufficient regard for you. You are seldom, 
for any considerable length of time together, out of 
my mind, and daily does your present and eternal 
happiness make a part of my addresses at the Divine 
Throne. 

I doubt not that you wish to hear of my return 
home ; this, through Sovereign mercy, was with safe- 
ty, health and happiness. I was permitted to fulfil 
all my appointments on my return, and, to the praise 
of the Glory of Grace, enjoyed much of the Divine 
presence and assistance in preaching. The extreme 
heat of the weather the first two days after I left you, 
much exhausted my feeble body, but Jesus greatly 
comforted my poor soul. I arrived at Tramelsburg 
on the Saturday evening after I left you, about half 
an hour before sunset. That is within six miles of 
Carrol's Manor. I preached there on Lord's day, to 
a pretty large and attentive congregation, and after 



104 

preaching, came on home. The week after I re- 
turned home, I enjoyed an uncommon degree of 
health, and an equal degree of consolation, — every 
member of my body was strung with vigor, and every 
power of my soul rejoiced in Jesus. The next 
week, however, both the health of my body and 
the happiness of my mind were greatly depreciated. 
I was taken first with a pain in my head and breast, 
which was succeeded by a severe bilious attack, and 
which, for one night especially, seemed likely to open 
my way to eternity. The counsels of Heaven, how- 
ever, were otherwise planned ; I was again restored. 
I lost but two days from school, and, though in much 
weakness of body, I was privileged to fulfil all my ap- 
pointments to preach. Since my recovery from the 
illness now mentioned, which lasted but about a 
week, I have been very healthy till to-day. This 
day I am much afflicted with a pain in my head, and 
a general debility of body. Where it will end God 
only knows. It reminds me, however, of the ancient 
declaration, "Dust thou art, and unto dust must thou 
return." But, thanks be to God, "None of these 
things trouble me, for though my outward man per- 
ish, yet my inward man is renewed day by day," and 
although my " earthly house of this tabernacle were 
dissolved," I humbly trust " I have a building of God, 
an house not made with hands, eternal in the heav- 
ens." 2 Cor. 5 : 1. 

Agreeably to expectation when I left you, I was 



105 

permitted to attend an Association at Tuscarora Val- 
ley. On my journey out I had the company of my 
beloved brother, Jeremiah Moore, and three others of 
the friends of Jesus. At our Association there were 
eight ministers, and a considerable concourse of peo- 
ple. There was great attention given, while nine 
sermons were delivered, and we were blest with 
peace and unanimity in the execution of our business. 
On my return home I had the good company of the 
brethren who went out with me, with the addition of 
my precious brother and father in the gospel, Lewis 
Richards. Since my return from the Association, I 
have received two letters from brother Richards, and 
have written two to him. He is to be up to preach 
at Carrol's Manor the last Lord's p day in this 
month ; but-, greatly to my regret, by reason of ap- 
pointments which I sent out before I received his let- 
ters, I shall on that day be about sixty miles from 
home. 

I often, yea, daily think on the situation of the 
people in George's Hills, and long to preach the gos- 
pel to them, but alas ! I think and wish in vain. My 
confinement to my school, together with the demand 
for my preaching here, forbids even the most distant 
probability of seeing you before some time next sum- 
mer. The thought to me is painful, but the words 
occur, " Peace, be still, and know that I am God." 
Has Divine Providence thus separated us from each 
other ? — let us learn in reverence to say, " It is the 



106 

Lord, let him do what seemeth him good." One 
privilege we have got, and O ! may we use it. While 
absent in body, it is our privilege to be present with 
the Lord — to address the Divine Throne for the hap- 
piness of each other. 

I would fondly have written letters to several of the 
different members of your Church ; especially to those 
whom I had the happiness to baptize. But as the 
multitude of my concerns do not afford me time, I beg 
you will kindly remember me to all. while I remain, 
Your unworthy, but 

very affectionate son, 

Wm. Parkinson. 




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